The Fear Factor
Understanding power company volatility in the context of valuation theory.
A top CSFB investment banker analyzes how recent power sector volatility can be understood in the context of valuation theory.
Utility Valuation: Shedding Light on the Black Box
Experts debate how energy companies should be valued in the wake of electric restructuring and Enron.
Credit downgrades, bankruptcy, and investor backlash against energy companies has exposed how inadequate the valuation of energy companies is. Experts debate just how to value the industry.
I Quit!
EPA director steps down, and tells you why.
I resign today from the Environmental Protection Agency after 12 years of service. I cannot leave without sharing my frustration about the fate of our enforcement actions against power companies that have violated the Clean Air Act.
Bush's Cloudy Skies?
Experts debate whether Bush’s Clear Skies plan on power plant emissions clears the way for better emissions technologies.
The Bush administration has yet to deliver a detailed plan of its Clear Skies program-no legislation has been introduced. Even without many details, there's plenty to argue about. At the top of the list is whether a cap-and-trade program will truly reduce emissions more than the current command-and-control regime.
People (April 1, 2002)
Edward F. Godfrey has been named to the Unitil board of directors. CH Energy Group appointed Steven V. Lant COO. Susan Glasmann and Alan Allred were named senior vice presidents for Questar Regulated Services, a subsidiary of Questar Corp. And others ...
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.
Revisiting California
Market power after two years.
Armed with new data, a well-known economist discusses what really happened.
Crawling from the Wreckage
Can California’s energy market be salvaged?
The whole world watched the California energy market debacle. Now, economists talk about what it would take to rebuild California into a truly competitive power market.
The Economists: On the Future of Energy Markets
Uncertainty clouds direction of FERC’s market engineering.
The failure of California markets, Enron, and the low-point of the merchant plant business cycle has left many executives pessimistic over the prospects that true competitive markets in energy will develop. Top economists discuss the industry’s outlook.
Wag the Dog
Pack journalists feed off PG&E letter.
Was Pacific Gas and Electric’s recent customer mailing of a dog-bite letter and meter-reading schedule a selfless attempt to protect its employees from vicious canines? Or was the notice to dog owners a catty move to get the California press off the scent of Pacific Gas and Electric’s bankruptcy proceedings?