[BETA] Fortnightly

Flow-based pricing ends

subsidies inherent in grid-wide,

postage-stamp rates.

I

n Order 888, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission suggested 11 principles for forming an independent system operator, or ISO. In its third principle, the FERC offered this guidance on transmission pricing:

An ISO should provide open access to the transmission system and all services under its control at non-pancaked rates pursuant to a single, unbundled, grid-wide tariff that applies to all eligible users in a non-discriminatory manner.

Talk runs gamut from "rocket docket" to "Just go slow." A merger announcement kickstarted NARUC's annual conference last year. This year, in San Francisco, there was little difference in conference chatter. Only this time, MCI Communications Corp. and British Telecommunications Plc were the suitors, in a $20 billion corporate marriage.

Regulators had better get used to the "M" word, noted speaker John E. Hayes, Jr., chairman of Western Resources Corp.

How the electric industry uses DSM and IRP to build load, ignoring basic truths found in fuel-cycle analysis.It was during the early 19th century that General von Clausewitz announced his nine principles of warfare.

About a year ago I stuck my neck out to predict that electric utilities might end up with stranded investment in transmission lines. I suggested that financial commodities trading-longs, shorts, and hedges-might supplant physical product movements. It's happened in natural gas, where the interstate pipelines have suffered from "decontracting" and capacity "turnback"-a phenomenon that has tended to move from West to East.

As electric restructuring rockets to the top of state public utility commission agendas, regulators find themselves pushed in every direction. Pushing the hardest, in most cases, are legislators, who, like commissioners, are being lobbied by utilities, industrial consumers, and sometimes, residential customers. Each party has its agenda. Some wield more clout than others.

Public Utilities Fortnightly asked eight commissioners about the demands of restructuring and about an issue particular to their state.

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Comments by P.

SCANA Corp. promoted William B. Timmerman, president, to COO. John L. Skolds, senior v.p. of generation at SCANA subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas, became president and COO. Skolds replaces Bruce D. Kenyon, who left the company to become president of Northeast Nuclear Energy Co.

James T. Egler was promoted from president of Equitable Resources Inc.'s marketing division to CEO of Equitable Gas Co., a regulated subsidiary.

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. promoted Bob Bahnick to v.p., operations & engineering.

Christopher M. Coburn and Charles William Burton were confirmed by the U.S. Senate as directors of the U.S. Enrichment Corp. Both will serve five-year terms. Coburn is v.p. of the Technology Partnership Practice for Battelle Memorial Institute. Burton, an attorney, is of counsel to Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue.

Northern Indiana Public Service Co. promoted Dorothy M. Hawkins to information technology director. Kennan J. Walsh, senior rate specialist, was promoted to senior (electric) regulatory specialist. Gregory A.

Where others see conflict, a Pennsylvania commissioner finds a peace offering,

not a grab for power.

The jurisdictional issues posed by Order 888 continue to breed tension between federal and state officials. Unfortunately, most of this tension too often elevates form over substance. This jurisdictional tension shifts the focus of decisionmaking from securing the benefits of competition to preserving regulatory turf.

One of the most influential organizations in utility regulation is seeking a new executive after its director of more than 30 years resigned in the midst of strategic planning that could change the group's future.

Paul Rodgers, executive director and general counsel for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), made his July 25 resignation effective August 9. He was given two year's pay as severance.

Charles D. Gray, assistant general counsel, has taken over as acting general counsel.

About 90 parties have filed petitions seeking changes to Order 888. Claiming "errors," the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reverse its assertion of:

s Jurisdiction over unbundled retail transmission services

s "Primary" authority over retail stranded-cost recovery when retail consumers convert to wholesale

s "Backstop" authority to provide stranded-cost recovery when an end user changes power suppliers under a state-established retail wheeling system.