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.
Revisiting California
Market power after two years.
Armed with new data, a well-known economist discusses what really happened.
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.
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 ...
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.
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.
Digital Terrorism: Holes in the Firewall?
Plugging cyber security holes isn't as easy as everyone wants to think.
Experts show that utilities will have to do more than just post guards around power plants to protect against terrorist attacks.
The Commission: The Market's Eye-in-the-Sky?
FERC's plan to expand into energy market-monitoring faces many challenges.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is positioning itself to be the preeminent energy market cop. The commission will have many challenges before it becomes successful in policing market abusers.
So, You Want to be a Retail Energy Marketer?
Retail energy markets entail a unique set of risk management challenges.
As the march of retail competition, although slower, continues to move on the country, energy companies are finding they must be much more agile at managing the risks. A discussion of what energy suppliers ought to know.
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?