San Diego Gas & Electric turns vendor heads with its plan to install real-time meters, but the company could face heat from regulators.

This is a landmark event," says Bill Rush, a physicist at the Gas Technology Institute, and a gas industry expert on electric utility metering systems.

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.

1 David Perry, of Ventro (Red Herring, 2000).
2 When the California market was deregulated in 1998, the power exchange and independent system operator began using the Web for all billing and settlement transactions.
3 Energy Services & Telecom Report, 2000.
4 Power Markets Week, 1999.
5 Energy Services & Telecom Report, 1999.
6 Ibid.
7 Utilities IT, 1999.
8 Sound View Technology Group, Feb. 11, 2000.
9 Ariba, March 23, 2000, E* Offering.

News Digest

 

Frontlines

What's a Utility?

Never before have investors known less about what their company is up to.

How many different types of "utility" companies can you name? Which ones would you trust the most to double or triple your investment nest egg? Which ones make you nervous?

News Analysis

 

Questar Gets Its Way in Utah