Fortnightly Magazine - August 2004

Power Measurements

Energy trading returns, healthier and wiser.

Power Measurement

Energy trading returns, healthier and wiser.

The recent announcement of a trading joint venture between TXU and Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) is the latest in a series of positive news items supporting the return of energy trading. Wall Street firms continue to expand into the energy-trading sector, with Citigroup as well as CSFB moving into an area already well represented by the likes of Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and UBS.

Byline: 
Gary L. Hunt and Grant Thain
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Perspective

Congress should not impose a federal renewable portfolio standard (RPS).

Perspective

Congress should not impose a federal renewable portfolio standard (RPS).

Since 1978, the federal government has relied on tax incentives to promote the generation of electric power from renewable resources-"green" power from hydroelectric facilities and windmills, solar panels and photovoltaic cells, facilities that burn biomass, municipal waste and landfill gas, and geothermal and ocean thermal resources.

Byline: 
James W. Moeller
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Commission Watch

Assimilating the best of the regulated-utility and merchant models.

Commission Watch

Assimilating the best of the regulated-utility and merchant models.

Vertically integrated utilities (VIUs) have served us well and do not need to be dismantled in the name of competition.

Byline: 
Larry Eisenstat, Pat Alexander, and Don Gelinas
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Business & Money

Credit-rating linkage harms certain power companies. Ring-fencing is the best answer for regulators.

Business & Money

Credit-rating linkage harms certain power companies. Ring-fencing is the best answer for regulators.

In recent years, a persistent battle has developed between state public utility commissions (PUCs) and holding companies over the negative financial and operational impacts on regulated utilities of failed diversification investments. Ratepayers expect to compensate companies for the costs of providing utility service-not those costs associated with the unregulated activities of affiliated companies.

Byline: 
Dr. Fred Grygiel and John Garvey
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Technology Corridor

EPRI challenges the industry to modernize the grid.

Technology Corridor

EPRI challenges the industry to modernize the grid.

At a time when a secure and reliable electricity infrastructure should be one of our highest priorities, we find ourselves with a system that is increasingly vulnerable to power quality problems and to intrusion, both natural and man-made. The constraints on utility investment that have brought us to this state must be released so that we can move forward to enable a truly digital society and economy.

Byline: 
Kurt Yeager
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MISO: Building The Perfect Beast

Seams, holes, and historic precedent challenge the Midwest ISO's evolution.

Seams, holes, and historic precedent challenge the Midwest ISO's evolution.

In a single sentence, Bill Smith of the Organization of MISO States (OMS) summarizes prevailing concerns about the new-and-improved Midwest ISO: "When it starts, it has to work."

Byline: 
Michael T. Burr
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Profit Without Costs

An analysis of participant funding in natural gas and electricity markets.

An analysis of participant funding in natural gas and electricity markets.

Of all the issues in the energy industry, no matter how technically or scientifically complex, none is more important than fairness. Price spikes, contract reformation, market manipulation-all hot-button issues during the last four years-revolve around a core value held by practitioners and regulators alike: Are the prices that exist in the marketplace just and reasonable?

Byline: 
Curt Hébert Jr.
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Global Warming: The Gathering Storm

Russia resurrects the Kyoto Protocol and the prospect of either mandatory CO<sup>2</sup> emissions cuts for U.S. utilities, or the start of a global trade war.

Russia resurrects the Kyoto Protocol and the prospect of either mandatory CO2 emissions cuts for U.S. utilities, or the start of a global trade war.

In June 2001, the Bush administration withdrew an earlier campaign pledge to support the Kyoto Protocol, claiming that the treaty was fatally flawed in not requiring China and India to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and that the science underpinning the treaty was not yet definitive enough to justify the costs of compliance.1

Byline: 
Peter J. Fontaine, Esquire
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Long-Term Power Contracts: The Art Of The Deal

Long-Term Cooperative Supplier Relationships

Buyers generally acquire a mix of long- and short-term contracts, with the goal of finding the optimal trade-off between price and flexibility.

For both buyers and sellers, forward contracts guarantee the exchange of a known quantity of goods at a known price and for a given time frame. From the buyer's perspective, such a contract not only guarantees delivery of a critical good, at an agreed upon price, but also reduces the costs of procurement operations, as prices do not have to be negotiated continually.

Byline: 
Amy Roschelle, William Steinhurst, Paul Peterson, and Bruce Biewald
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Solving The Crisis In Unscheduled Power

While NAESB and NERC struggle over the issue, North America steadily drifts toward unreliability.

While NAESB and NERC struggle over the issue, North America steadily drifts toward unreliability.

Time is running out. It's been more than two years since the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) Joint Inadvertent Interchange Taskforce (JIITF), on which I served, issued its white paper[1] proposing how to price the unscheduled power (inadvertent interchange)1 flowing between NERC-certified balancing authorities (BAs).

Byline: 
Robert Blohm
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