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Debilitating Doctrine

How the filed-rate policy wreaks havoc — and what courts can do about it.

Like many venerable legal rules, the filed-rate doctrine is rarely questioned. Over the last century, it has served many important purposes. However, with deregulated wholesale electric power markets at the federal level and various degrees of deregulation across the states, both the doctrine's continued applicability and usefulness are suspect.
Byline: 

Jim Rossi

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Power Measurements: Welcome to ComEd, Population 1,281

What did LMPs tell us this summer in PJM's new neighborhood?

With one summer under its belt as a member of PJM, ComEd has been called a complete success by some, boring by others. Using data from Energy Velocity's Market Ops and Weather products, we can see the impact of transmission and weather on ComEd this summer.
Byline: 

Aaron Brasket, Tom Ottem, and Mike McNair

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People: November 2004

People

Jack Hawks took on the added role of EPSA's acting vice president of policy; David Barnes joined Commerce Energy as vice president, Finance & Investor Relations; Terry Winter assumed the newly created position of executive vice president, Advanced Grid Solutions at American Superconductor Corp.; and more.
Byline: 

PUF

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Comments on 'Solving the Crisis in Unscheduled Power'

Letters to the Editor

Robert Blohm's article, "Solving the Crisis in Unscheduled Power," ignores a significant part of the power-scheduling paradigm — that is, it ignores transmission. Every power schedule not only includes load and generation but also a path to move the electricity between those points.
Byline: 

Mark B. Lively

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Playing Russian Roulette

Moscow's ratification of the Kyoto protocol could pose problems for the United States.

It could mark the biggest bungle of the last two administrations: the decision to walk away from the Kyoto Protocol rather than stay and negotiate to U.S. advantage. No one thought Russia would sign and put the treaty in force. But now that Russia's ratification appears imminent, policy wonks in America are scrambling to assess the impact.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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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

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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

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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

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People

People for October 2004

Positions filled at Peabody Energy, Wisconsin Public Service, Wisconsin Energy Corp., and others.
Byline: 

PUF

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The Growth Divide

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

The debate over how utilities should honor their obligation to stockholders is an issue that is coming to the fore with greater force. 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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