Become a PUF Member Organization

Fortnightly Magazine - June 2004

Business & Money

Investors are asking utilities questions about environmental and social risks. Answers can be a challenge.

Business & Money

Investors are asking utilities questions about environmental and social risks. Answers can be a challenge.

When the tech-stock bubble burst in 2001, investors were outraged to learn that many stock analysts were being paid to over-hype stocks. The following year, Enron's ugly public death revealed the presence of a virulent infection in governance of many large and respected companies.

Byline: 
Michael T. Burr
Read Entire Article

A 75th Anniversary Retrospective

Let's look back over the past few years-what we got right and where we went wrong.

Let's look back over the past few years-what we got right and where we went wrong.

Do you recall how you felt at your last class reunion? Well, that's exactly what an editor feels when asked to reminisce in public about days gone by at the magazine to which he gave his best years.

Byline: 
Bruce W. Radford
Read Entire Article

The New CEO's

Michael G. Morris

Interviews

For Public Utilities Fortnightly's 75th Anniversary CEO issue, the magazine looked to the horizon and asked these new captains about the planned course for their companies, and for an entire industry.

Byline: 
Richard Stavros
Read Entire Article

Envision the Utility of Tomorrow

How will the industry change in the future?

How will the industry change in the future?

The utility industry of the future can be best characterized by three words: scale, synergies, and automation. Company leaders and the broader workforce will be touched by these three forces for change. We can already see glimpses of the future around us today. In response to the sweep of deregulation, many power companies no longer generate power. They have divested themselves of their generating plants, ceding that ground to independent producers to concentrate on distribution.

Byline: 
Keith Mueller
Read Entire Article

Boardroom Showdown

Investors are revolting against poor corporate governance, demanding tighter controls that will boost earnings and stock price.

Investors are revolting against poor corporate governance, demanding tighter controls that will boost earnings and stock price.

A new wave of activism has risen in corporate America, driven by large institutional shareholders who claim companies have not gone far enough in their efforts to embrace good governance. These institutional shareholders maintain that good governance leads to superior financial performance and will not be satisfied unless the companies do more to implement good governance policy.

Byline: 
Kevin Genieser
Read Entire Article

Consolidating Co-ops

Like it or not, changes are coming for electric cooperatives. Fewer and bigger might be the inevitable result.

Like it or not, changes are coming for electric cooperatives. Fewer and bigger might be the inevitable result.

When power planners at Basin Electric Power Cooperative began trying to decide how and where the company's next big power plant would be built, they did what a co-op does best -they reached out and formed a coalition.

Byline: 
Michael T. Burr
Read Entire Article
V