Fortnightly Magazine - October 2004

Profiting from Transmission Investment

A holistic, new approach to cost/benefit analysis.

A holistic, new approach to cost/benefit analysis.

The still-fresh memories of last year's Northeast blackout coupled with rising congestion nationwide have increased awareness of the electric transmission investment shortfall in the United States. Such investment, in the right locations, would have a highly positive benefit-cost ratio. But how much should be spent?

Byline: 
Kojo Ofori-Atta, Elliot Roseman, Bansari Saha, Scott Stuart, Marc Lipschultz & Jonathan Smidt
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Operations & Maintenance: Who Has the Best Margin?

Operations & Maintenance

Operations & Maintenance

The process of calculating meaningful benchmarks is fraught with pitfalls.

Regulatory reporting requirements for major U.S. utilities provide a wealth of data for benchmarking studies. Both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Form 1 for electric utilities and FERC Form 2 for gas utilities involve the reporting of more than 2,500 unique data points per utility per year, across diverse aspects of utility operations, maintenance, and finance.

Byline: 
Peter Manos
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Frontlines

Will a back-to-basics strategy meet investor expectations?

Frontlines

Will a back-to-basics strategy meet investor expectations?

It's an issue that is coming to the fore with greater force-the debate over how utilities should honor their obligation to stockholders. But this time there seems to be quite a difference of opinion over strategy-or so we found in our annual finance issue.

Byline: 
Richard Stavros
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People

New Opportunities:

People

New Opportunities:

Peabody Energy named Charles "Chuck" Burggraf group executive of Colorado operations, responsible for Twentymile Coal Co.'s Twentymile Mine near Oak Creek and development of additional coal reserves in Colorado. Burggraf most recently served as operations manager of the Twentymile Mine.

Wisconsin Public Service promoted Charlie Schrock and Larry Borgard. Schrock is now president and COO of operations; Borgard becomes president and COO of energy delivery.

Byline: 
We welcome submissions to People, especially those accompanied by a high-resolution color photograph. E-mail to: photos@pur.com
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