An in-depth analysis of the myriad of issues affecting the true development of competitive power markets.

In any industry, companies must choose a portfolio of assets and businesses to own along a value chain. In doing so, they make an implicit trade-off between the benefits of focus and vertical integration.

Much the same way that bankers used to worry about a “run on the bank,” where there is an overwhelming demand for liquidity that causes a solvent bank to fail, so should energy companies be worried that their use of material adverse change (MAC) clauses might trigger an overwhelming demand for liquidity that causes a once solvent energy company to fail. Of course, the banks now have the Fed to protect the financial system from a liquidity crisis. No such luck for the energy industry.

E2I appointed Richard H. Counihan as vice president of research programs. The MAPP management committee elected its executive committee members. The Energy Distribution Group of NiSource Inc., recently announced a management realignment. And others ...

National Fuel Gas Co. elected Philip C. Ackerman to chairman of the board. Roy McAllister has joined Mirant as senior vice president, external affairs. Chesapeake Utilities Corp. appointed three new members to its board of directors. And others ...

Richard L. Rudman has been named to the new position of executive vice president at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Rudman joined EPRI in 1973, and was named COO in 1996. And others ...

The rules of energy market survival changed forever in 2001. California and Enron were both humbled by gyrating prices and blackouts in the Golden State, and financial misadventure dethroned the once-crowned king of energy trading. These twin events sent shockwaves through the very foundation of the energy trading and risk management establishment.