Join the leading utility innovators in Washington, D.C. October 6-8

Fortnightly Magazine - January 15 1997

Trends

Wholesale power transactions continue to grow. During 1995, utilities spent more than $58 billion on bulk power and, for the first time, investor-owned utilities spent more for electricity ($30 billion) than for fuel ($29 billion) to generate it. The reasons for the expansion can be traced to more aggressive marketing strategies by electric utilities, an increasingly competitive group of independent power providers, and the presence of power marketers as a formidable and growing group of power traders.

Expansion in wholesale markets is hardly new.

Byline: 
Kent Knutson
Read Entire Article

Pa. Looks at Gas Marketers

In two recent actions concerning natural gas marketers and brokers, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has proposed new policy to define its authority over marketing by the state's local distribution companies (LDCs) and their affiliates, plus a new rule requiring LDCs to set tariffed guidelines to ensure that marketers and brokers possess the financial and technical fitness necessary "to meet their contractual obligations" in transporting gas through LDC systems.

It stressed that it would not permit unreasonable discrimination in retail offerings (em whether by the LDC

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
Read Entire Article

Joules

Southern Communications Services, Inc., which recently entered the wireless communications market, has begun to market products and services under the name of its parent, Southern Company. Southern also is parent to Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power, and Savannah Electric.

Gulf Power, meanwhile, signed a contract with Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. for two-way energy management applications. Some 40,000 homes will be fitted with the interactive systems over eight years.

Read Entire Article

Study Points Out M&A Difficulties

Utilities that participate in a merger are just a likely to find revenues shrinking as growing, according to a recent study of completed and pending M&A activity among U.S. utility and energy companies.

The study, "Energy Utility Perspectives (em Creating Value Through Mergers and Acquisitions," conducted by Mercer Management Consulting, examines 43 completed and 53 pending U.S. utility deals conducted between 1985 and 1995.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
Read Entire Article

INGAA Sees Renewed Interest in LNG

A study procured by the INGAA Foundation (Interstate Natural Gas Association of America) finds a resurgence in use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a peak-shaving alternative for local distribution companies (LDCs).

The study, "The Use of Liquefied Natural Gas For Peaking Service," conducted by Stone & Webster Management Consultants, Inc., attributed a rise in the use of LNG plants for peak shaving to a deregulated environment (FERC Order 636, plus use of the "straight fixed-variable" rate design for gas pipeline capacity), which forces LDCs to assess their true capacity needs.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
Read Entire Article

New Mexico To Write Off PUC

Voters in New Mexico have decided to abolish the New Mexico Public Utility Commission, as well as the New Mexico Corporation Commission.

The two agencies would be replaced by a five-member, Public Regulatory Commission, which would regulate electric, water, telephone, and insurance companies, plus natural gas and oil pipelines. t

Lori A. Burkhart is an associate legal editor of PUBLIC UTILITIES FORTNIGHTLY.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
Read Entire Article

Perspective

An oft-heard argument these days says that states with low-cost power should refrain from restructuring their electric utilities. This argument has gained credence in some states, where protectionists have used it to slow down the liberalization of electricity markets. The rationale is simple: Because the state would export its low-cost power, local consumers would lose. They would face higher electric prices than if their state had somehow confined its low-cost resources within its boundaries.

Byline: 
Kenneth W. Costello
Read Entire Article

FERC Issues Long-Awaited Merger

More than a year and a half after commissioners Hoecker and Massey first raised eyebrows in various concurring and dissenting opinions by suggesting changes in the merger approval process for electric utilities, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on December 18 issued Order 592, a "policy statement" designed to "update and clarify" the criteria it will use to ensure that mergers remain consistent with the public interest.

Backing away from the historical six-part merger approval test established in 1966 in the Commonwealth Edison case, the FERC announced that it would ap

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
Read Entire Article

EIA Predicts Further Nuclear Growth

According to a new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), nuclear power continued as an important source of electricity in 1995, accounting for 22 percent of total worldwide electric generation. The report, "Nuclear Power Generation and Fuel Cycle Report 1996," projects continued worldwide growth for nuclear plants in the near term, but uncertain long-term prospects.

Worldwide, nuclear plants generated

2,225 terawatt-hours in 1995, a four percent increase from 1994 (one terawatt equals 1000 gigawatts, or one million megawatts).

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
Read Entire Article
V