Frontlines & Op-Ed

A Winning Proposition?

A response to Bruce Radford’s “100-to-1 Odds, Why merchant transmission still looks iffy,” in the March 1, 2002 issue.

Competitive transmission is already a proven and sound business model. With the right regulatory rules, competitive transmission can make major efficiency improvements to the existing transmission system.
Byline: 

Jim Schretter

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The Doomsday Scenario

Debt + secret triggers = another Enron.

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.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Politically Inelastic?

Electric pricing issues are hard to overcome.

Do politicians really mean what they say when they call for competitive markets in electricity at the wholesale and retail levels? Rivals of California Gov. Gray Davis champion competitive electric markets. But what if, after elections, California markets are then fixed (with unanimous consent), and prices continue to be high? Will that politician still stand behind competitive markets?
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Letter to the Editor

A response to "Frontlines," Feb. 1, 2002.

Kudos to you for your well‑developed editorial pointing out that the administration's announcement is not quite half baked, and that utilities are key to the implementation of a hydrogen fueled transportation initiative.
Byline: 

Paul B. Scott

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100-to-1 Odds

Why merchant transmission still looks iffy.

The other week, courtesy of Infocast and its Transmission Summit 2002, held in Washington, D.C. in late January, I got to see, hear, and ask questions of three emerging stars of the merchant transmission biz.
Byline: 

Bruce W. Radford

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California: Beginning Anew

The 2002 rhetoric sounds like pro-electric competition, but is it too little, too late?

In its recent efforts to tie up the loose ends left from the California Crisis, is the state setting itself up for a sequel, California Crisis II: A Not So Beautiful Market?
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Forgetting Someone, Mr. Secretary?

The DOE's new hydrogen car initiative won't get very far without electric utilities.

Secretary Spencer Abraham announced that the DOE and the nation’s carmakers would create a public-private partnership to promote hydrogen as a primary fuel for cars and trucks. He didn't mention how much the program would cost, how long it would take, or define what infrastructure the government would develop to support hydrogen transportation.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Pat Packs a Punch

FERC's new chairman runs roughshod over a reeling industry.

By a vote of 3-1, FERC had crowned the Midwest Independent System Operator—MISO—as belle of the ball. In so doing, it scorned the proposed Alliance Regional Transmission Organization.
Byline: 

Bruce W. Radford

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A Wrinkle in Time

Enron makes an exit; FERC cost-based rates return.

You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank. Then, you execute a debt-equity swap with an associated general offer, so you get all four cows back, with a tax-exemption for the fifth cow, of course.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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