Commission Watch

Gas Transport Rates

Why does FERC want to limit pipeline discounts?

It's certainly puzzling, if not downright peculiar.

That's the feeling one gets after studying the notice of inquiry (NOI) that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) launched late last year, after nearly 10 years of dragging its feet, to re-examine the wisdom of encouraging the practice of rate discounting by interstate natural gas pipelines.

Technology Corridor

Increased business and regulatory challenges have utilities lagging in investments to meet energy demand a decade from now.

A primary rationale behind the restructuring of the electric utility industry 10 years ago was that competitive markets manage supply and demand, incent innovation, and allocate investment more effectively than centrally regulated monopolies.

Gas Executives Roundtable

Gas distributors tell how their business strategies are changing in response to issues such as higher gas prices, electric M&A, LNG, and gas pipeline development.

Big changes are coming to the U.S. natural gas industry. As upstream developers work to expand capacity for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG), midstream and downstream players are asking questions about how these new resources will affect their businesses.

Utilities and BPL

Why broadband over power line (BPL) can't stand alone as a high-speed Internet offering.

You could almost feel former FCC Chairman Michael Powell's enthusiasm for broadband over power line (BPL) technology when he called it "the most important third way" to provide broadband to markets across the United States.