DC

Avoiding Overpriced Risk Management: Exploring the Cyber Auction Alternative

Should an LDC procure electricity hedge products by using an Internet-based auction?

Should an LDC procure electricity hedge products by using an Internet-based auction?

We propose that local distribution companies (LDCs) should use an Internet-based auction to procure inactively traded products, because the auction is a superior alternative to common procurement methods, such as bilateral negotiation and request for offers (RFO). Supporting our proposal is the empirical evidence from two auctions recently held by a municipal utility in Florida.

Capping Emissions: How Low Should We Go?

Investigating where environmental efficiency and good public policy intersect.

Investigating where environmental efficiency and good public policy intersect.

More than a decade after adopting the first national cap-and-trade approach to regulating pollution from electricity generators, Congress is considering another round of cap-and-trade regulations on a number of gases emitted by electricity generators.

Bridging the Carbon Gap: Fossil Fuel Use for the 21st Century

Coal gasification as a transition plan to build lead time to develop sustainable, climate-friendly energy technologies.

Coal gasification as a transition plan to build lead time to develop sustainable, climate-friendly energy technologies.

Editor's Note
Several of the sources for this article and accompanying sidebars are referenced numerous times.

Weather Risk Management for Regulated Utilities

Why hedging can make sense, even for companies covered by weather-normalized rates.

Why hedging can make sense, even for companies covered by weather-normalized rates.

Weather risk management is growing, but utilities may be losing out.

A recent survey suggests that the number of transactions involving financial derivatives to hedge weather-related risks grew by 43 percent against the prior year for the twelve months ended March 31.1 Yet regulated utilities continue to show reluctance to embrace weather derivatives.

Transmission Expansion: Risk and Reward in an RTO World

Some thoughts on who should take the lead and how to set up financial incentives.


 

Some thoughts on who should take the lead and how to set up financial incentives.

One of the most interesting questions that arises from federal restructuring of the electric grid, with regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and a standard market design (SMD), concerns the risk of building transmission in an RTO environment.

Talking with Trans-Elect's Bernie Schroeder

His company, he admits, is all about cherry picking.

We wanted to learn the latest on who’s buying, selling and churning assets in the transmission world. Trans-Elect president and COO Bernie Schroeder did not disappoint.

Utility Risk Programs: Success or Failure?

State public service commissions are insisting that utilities adopt risk management programs, and are allowing less pass-through for those that don't.

A well-known economist analyzes how well U.S. utilities performed in their risk management programs during 2001/2002.

The Fear Factor

Understanding power company volatility in the context of valuation theory.

A top CSFB investment banker analyzes how recent power sector volatility can be understood in the context of valuation theory.