News Digest

 

 

The Federal Trade Commission likely will regulate those business-to-business Web portals, but how much?

Electric utility executives may be a step behind the Internet revolution, but in one key respect they may have an advantage over anyone else building an e-commerce Web portal for business-to-business (B2B) procurement.

Utility executives don't fear government regulation. They're already caught in the net.

 

Both look overseas for project developers, but some U.S. firms worry they'll miss out.

Telecoms may offer IOUs a model for multiplying market caps by dividing their shareholdings.

April 1, 2000

Electric utility stocks bottomed out in 1999. It's up to managers to lead a rally.

The allure of technology stocks and rising interest rates combined to make 1999 the worst year for electric utility stocks since 1974, according to market analysts. But they see upside potential in the under-performance of these stocks, and say utility managers can play a role in attracting investors.

Having now passed a rule that takes very few chances, the FERC must decide what's in store for investors.

Whatever happened to the Sunshine Act - the law that tells government officials to hold their meetings in the open?

That's what all of us in the trade press wanted to know on Dec. 15, when Chairman James Hoecker kept us waiting all morning and well into the afternoon, while he and his cohorts at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission debated in secret on the ninth floor over the future of the electric utility industry.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Joint Ventures. The Federal Trade Commission, in consultation with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, issued draft antitrust guidelines for "collaborations among competitors" that will apply to a wide range of joint ventures and strategic alliances other than actual mergers.

Such collaborations would include R&D efforts, information sharing and joint efforts in marketing, distribution, sales or purchasing, plus various types of trade association activities. File No. 971201, Oct. 1, 1999 (F.T.C.), published at 64 Fed. Reg.

Six executives map out the technology, tools, theories and institutions that could change the face of electricity forever.

Liberty is the most important component of enlightenment.