People
People for October 2004
Positions filled at Peabody Energy, Wisconsin Public Service, Wisconsin Energy Corp., and others.
Fortnightly Magazine - October 2004
Perspective: Don't Fence Me Out
Hard-and-fast ring-fencing rules are not the best way to maintain order in the partially deregulated utility sector.
In times of stress due to financial setbacks or pending merger issues, regulatory ring-fencing or internal company structural separation can serve a beneficial purpose. But beware! Predicting the future is an impossible task: Utility regulators should hesitate before putting policies in place today that limit managerial discretion in the future, based upon the belief that they possess that ability.
Byline:
Steve Fetter
The AGs' Global Warming Suits: Regulation by Litigation
A recent lawsuit filed by eight state attorneys general will take the industry to the place where bad policy meets with bad economics.
A recent lawsuit filed by eight state attorneys general alleges that various coal-fired generating plants are harming the states' residents because of the plants' carbon dioxide emissions. From an economic and regulatory standpoint, it's difficult to see how this lawsuit, or litigation in general, can be viewed as a prudent approach to environmental mitigation.
Byline:
Jonathan A. Lesser
Winners and Losers: Utility Strategy and Shareholder Return
Diversified companies lead (and the globals lag) over the past five years.
The unbundling of services and companies in the electricity and natural gas industries have created unprecedented opportunities to reinvent the traditional integrated utility model, with a broader array of attendant risks and rewards. But this past year was clearly one of retrenchment and strategic soul searching, allowing an opportunity to re-examine the sector for winning business formulas.
Byline:
James Coyne and Prescott Hartshorne