A fierce debate has erupted in the utility policy community, with battle lines drawn within FERC itself. In the effort to improve system efficiency, two competing alternatives stand out: to build the smart grid on large-scale demand response (DR) programs, or to build it around consumer behavior in retail markets.

Higher electricity prices have drawn sharp attention to the design of organized wholesale electricity markets—particularly to areas where residential customers’ rates will increase because multi-year rate freezes are ending. Some suggest changing the way that markets set wholesale electricity prices, or doing away with competitive markets entirely and returning to government regulation of prices. They say that the design of the markets exaggerates the effects of natural-gas price increases and unfairly rewards generators that use lower-cost fuels.

Commission Watch

Electric M&A:

The merger with PSE&G may herald a new industry structure, squarely at odds with regional markets.

Call it the merger that broke the bank.

The marriage between Exelon and PSEG, owner of the utility Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G), formally proposed in February in papers filed at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), would create the largest electric utility in the United States.

Frontlines

ISO Meltdown?

Some wanted to shut down New York's power markets. Then cooler heads prevailed.

DURING THE WEEK OF June 22 there was a major imbalance between supply and demand for electricity in the Midwest. Although demand was high enough to set a few records, the real problem may have been the lack of supply. Many generators were out of service and a few marketers reneged on contracts to deliver power. Market prices for bulk power allegedly soared as high as $4,000 per megawatt-hour. The industry was left in an uproar over these volatile prices, especially since a competitive market has been touted as a means to achieve lower prices, not higher ones.

You've got to reinvest the proceeds (em and not just anywhere.

Recovering stranded investment is sometimes equated to preserving shareholder wealth. In fact, full recovery of stranded investment by itself will not preserve shareholder wealth in most cases.

What is missing all too often in discussions of stranded investment is the role that capital investment plays in the creation of shareholder wealth.

Nuclear Power:

Taking The Long View

In today's market, with competition imminent and natural gas still cheap, nuclear generation appears dicey. The popular view tags nuclear with high costs and suspect availability, even without reaching the more fundamental issues of safety and waste disposal. One wonders: What advantages lie open to nuclear power?

Many observers see excess capacity running rampant and commodity prices falling across the board as deregulation accelerates and power flows more freely across markets and service territories.

Stranded-

Cost

Recovery: All FERC'ed Up

By Michael T. Maloney, Robert E.

McCormick, and Chad A. McGowan

The "lost-revenues" approach in Order 888 ignores the fact that cash flow drives

asset valuation . . .

. . . the key to measuring uneconomic investment.

California, Oregon, and Nevada have developed a regional response to pricing transparency.

The electric utility industry has turned the corner away from monopoly regulation and into the competitive marketplace. No big surprise. Since the late 1970s, consumers have faced increasing sticker shock. In addition, customers want the same choices over electricity purchases that they have with other products.