Deregulation is a battle over metering relationships with commercial customers, not a struggle between competing suppliers of energy.

As long as the local electric utility emerges from the process with exclusive control over its metering, credit, and billing relationships, then deregulation will only cement its position as the customer's primary energy service provider (em and further enhance the "pool" concept by which the local utility acts as agent for the retail customer to purchase energy from independent power pr

Most electric utilities have invested heavily in building private telecommunications networks. In fact, U.S. utility telecommunication networks combine to form the largest private network, second only to that of the Department of Defense. While these networks improve power system control and operational efficiency, they typically contain excess capacity available for sale to other companies. Given increased competition in their core business, many utilities are currently reviewing opportunities to use this excess network capacity.

The electric utility industry has turned the corner away from monopoly regulation and into the competitive marketplace. No big surprise. Since the late 1970s, consumers have faced increasing sticker shock. In addition, customers want the same choices over electricity purchases that they have with other products.

For the last eight years of my 27-year career in the military, I was responsible for merging the Air Force's computer business with its communications business. This undertaking was similar in at least one significant way to current efforts to expand the role of computers in the regulated utility environment (em education is paramount.

Utilities typically employ computer technology either by creating internal information management divisions/subsidiaries or by outsourcing the work to a company that specializes in computer information technology.

Financial models within the utility industry are changing rapidly. Driven by competition, deregulation, and shareholder concern ov er profitability, North America's intermediate and larger-sized electric and gas companies are looking more closely at information technology (IT) investments.

Electric utilities are informationally dysfunctional. When we surveyed electric utility managers from around the country, we found a general consensus: Individual employees may possess vital information, but typically they do not know what to do with it. They don't understand why it's important or who may need it.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has decided to continue its five-year-old revenue sharing plan for U S WEST Communications, a local exchange telephone carrier, for one year. It initiated a workshop to develop a new regulatory plan for the carrier, and also proposed specific quality-of-service standards and penalties due to a recent decline in service quality.

While lowering current rates for electric gas and water services provided by Wisconsin Power & Light Co., the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) has also approved a series of gas and electric incentive mechanisms for the utility.

The ratemaking modifications include a natural gas procurement incentive that works through the company's adjustment clause and includes a link to spot commodity prices for gas supply as well as a sharing mechanism to allocate the risk of cost changes between ratepayers and shareholders.

The New York Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved comprehensive rate and service tariffs enabling AT&T Communications of New York, Inc. (AT&T) and Frontier Communications of Rochester, Inc. (Frontier) to provide local telephone services in the Rochester, NY, service area. The PSC expects to approve a third set of tariffs for Time Warner AxS of Rochester, L.P. early this year. The new tariffs will allow telephone customers in the Rochester area to choose between the three new market entrants and the existing local carrier, Rochester Telephone Corp.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) plans to issue interim rules in June 1995 allowing competitors to seek authority to offer local telephone service in the state. (The CPUC also recently completed a plan to open the "local toll" market to competition.) The CPUC directed all interested parties to seek a settlement of the issues arising under its plan to move the local market to full competition by 1997.