Fortnightly Magazine - January 15 1997

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has launched a discussion site on the internet as a first step towards updating plans for the "Licensing Support System," an electronic information management program to be used in the eventual licensing of a high-level radioactive waste repository.

The program, known as "LSSNet," may be reached at its internet address: http://lssnet.llnl.gov. It will continue through May 20, 1997. The internet dialogue is not intended to replace formal comments on any proposed rule that may be developed to update the licensing support system. t

Lori A.

How a sample electric company could reduce risk of loss by upgrading performance to industry benchmarks. Competition in electric generation will expose utility costs that exceed those of alternative suppliers. Roughly speaking, these above-market ("transition") costs should track the difference between the new market price and the embedded cost set by traditional cost-of-service regulation.

The problem has attracted no shortage of proposals.

Illinois has yet to face the issue, but when it does, it may find the road blocked by jurisdictional rules at the FERC. According to estimates by Moody's Investor Service, the state of Illinois would face stranded costs of nearly $6 billion if it should mandate retail wheeling to allow the state's electric utility customers to choose their own supply of electricity.

More than just software, prepaid billing remakes the business.

It revamps operations and changes the customer relationship.

There are no technical impediments that stand in the way for prepayment meters in North America. Whatever roadblocks do exist lie more with the state legislatures and with the culture of gas utilities and consumers."

Those comments come from Janet Penz, product manager (diaphragm meters) for Schlumberger Industries, speaking from her new Canadian office in Mississaugua, Ontario.