The Business Case for Co-Op Acquisitions
IOUs considering co-op acquisitions are finding fertile territory for growth.
When do the pros of a co-op acquisition outweigh the cons? One feasibility analysis shows some surprising results.
Fortnightly Magazine - January 2005
A Better Merchant Mousetrap?
The failure of the Empire Connection spells trouble for private transmission projects.
It’s at the very heart of all policy initiatives for both electric generation and transmission: How do you attract the right amount of investment without creating an overbuilt market, or a boom-bust scenario? In recent months, utility executives, financiers, and policy-makers have been asking this question with even greater zeal than usual.
People (January 2005)
AGL Resources announced the reorganization of its six-state territory into two divisions. Briggs L. Tobin was named GE's senior counsel for transactions. The Board of Directors of CH Energy Group Inc. appointed Joseph J. DeVirgilio Jr. to the position of executive vice president of corporate services and administration. And others ...
Merchant-Energy Bottom Fishers
Private equity rolls the dice.
One way some new players in the power generation market are looking at the valuation is to separate out “extrinsic” value and apply a higher discount rate or “haircut.” An alternative approach is to price the “whole curve” on a risk-adjusted basis.
Navigating the Gray Areas
Successful energy market development means understanding new subtleties and nuances.
A recent McKinsey article proclaimed, “More progress has been made improving the governance of U.S. corporations during the past couple of years than in the several decades preceding them." Yet, revelations from the disgraceful behavior associated with Enron and related events continue to surface and confuse the issue of what is needed today to move energy markets forward.
LICAP and Its Lessons: A Kink in the Curve
Doubts intensify over New England’s radical new market for electric capacity.
What began nearly two years ago as a simple request by power producers to boost their chances for recovering fixed costs for several power plants in Connecticut has mushroomed into the single most complicated case now pending before FERC.
Merchant Power: Ratepayers Back At Risk
A review of power plant deals in 2004 shows that utilities are buying.
Whether evolution or devolution, the merchant deals done to date show movement to a familiar structure; ratepayers are back at risk. While ratepayers have benefitted from merchant plants, they also paid since competition began with PURPA in 1978, and many of the acquisitions put them at risk for future changes in power values and fuel costs.
Betting on Broadband
Are consumer broadband over powerline (BPL) services enough to make the business case for utilities?
After years of development, technology to deliver high-speed data over the existing electric power delivery network has emerged in the marketplace. In some sections of Cincinnati and Manassas, Va., consumers now have an alternative to DSL and cable for broadband Internet access. It's real and it works.
Risk Appetites: How Hungry Are Utility Investors?
An effective risk-management strategy depends on knowing your shareholder’s idea of value.
How do shareholder relations link to risk-management policy? The answer: Utilities have to communicate to shareholders a particular set of operating strategies that will attain certain financial results. Risky activities both enhance and threaten those financial results. Therefore, policies must define how risky strategies are formulated, approved, controlled, and measured.
IT Roundtable: The Digitized Grid
Data gathering and controllability offer the quickest path to reliability.
Technology leaders at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Electric Power Research Institute, and the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative present their visions of energy IT in the 21st century.