Law & Lawyers

Off Peak

Consumers want one-stop shopping - everything in one package, and the telephone, too.

The role of the local electric utility could take on a much larger proportion if residential consumers and small business owners have their way.

These customers are increasingly interested in purchasing bundled products and services, according to a nationwide survey. And they're looking first to their local energy providers for additional services, even for products the suppliers have no experience providing, such as telecommunications.

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High Voltage: Affiliate Rules Shock Utility Markets

Subsidiaries grapple with codes of conduct. Did regulators overreact?

PG&E Corp. has threatened to appeal - all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if need be - a $1.68 million California Public Utilities Commission fine, slapped on it for violating affiliate rules.

The fine marked the loudest shot to date in what appears to be part two in the electric and gas restructuring wars:

The Affiliate Rules Wars.

These skirmishes promise to pit independent power marketers and out-of-state utility affiliates against the affiliates of incumbents.

Byline: 
Joseph F. Schuler, Jr.
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Mail

Technology is mature, says trade group exec for distributed power.

The general reader might receive the false impression upon reading Joseph F. Schuler Jr.'s article on distributed generation that distributed generation is limited to emerging technologies like microturbines and fuel cells (see "Distributed Generation: A 'Hot Corner' for Venture Capital?" Public Utilities Fortnightly, Oct. 15, 1998, p. 40). Indeed, this is a common misconception.

Byline: 
Sarah McKinley
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Perspective

Deregulation, you say? We still haven't seen any.

Let's begin with a quiz. We'll use the multiple-choice format, developed at the University of Wisconsin during the 1960s to address overcrowding caused by the World War II "baby boom." Choose only one of the following 10 possible answers. Be careful. It's tougher than it looks.

Question: What is meant by the term electric restructuring?

A. To provide all consumers with retail access to multiple "energy" providers.

B. To separate the ownership of power generation from other functions.

C.

Byline: 
Branko Terzic
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Special Report

Hoecker, Trebing see advantages in economies of scale.

Will New York's proposed independent system operator fall victim to the FERC's evolving RTO process?

"It has some conceivable drawbacks," FERC Chairman James J. Hoecker told attendees at the 30th Annual Institute of Public Utilities Conference. "One is that it's a single-state ISO and in the final analysis, regional transmission organizations probably need to cover broader geographical areas."

Hoecker used the forum at the Dec.

Byline: 
Joseph F. Schuler, Jr.
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Off Peak

Water rates continue to increase - by more than 10 percent in some cities.

The costs of improving water quality to meet mandates are proving too large to be diluted unnoticed into consumers' bills, many agencies are finding.

While the trend of increased water costs continues with U.S. rates up an average of 2.6 percent from 1997 to 1998, a new study reveals that some cities experienced increases of more than 10 percent.

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Electric Restructuring Legislation: Handicapping the 106th Congress

Will inaction in the Senate and House prompt FERC to move ahead?

About 36 bills with the word "electric" in them were introduced in the 105th Congress. According to Capitol Hill and industry association staff, the 106th Congress, officially begun Jan. 6, appears likely to see fewer restructuring bills, but steadfast champions.

Likelier still are developments outside of Congress that will shape energy policy and perhaps beat legislators to the punch.

Byline: 
Joseph F. Schuler, Jr.
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Price Spike Redux: A Market Emerged, Remarkably Rational

The post-mortems on last summer's price spikes in the Midwest are in. At least three studies of the event diverge in their conclusions:

First, on Sept. 24 of last year, the staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found the root cause of the spikes in extreme weather and unexpected outages. It observed no direct evidence of market manipulation and concluded that the events were unlikely to recur.

Byline: 
Robert J. Michaels and Jerry Ellig
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Using Auctions to Jump-Start Competition and Short-Circuit Incumbent Market Power

Ohio's proposal for retail marketing areas would give all customers meaningful choice and all suppliers even footing.

When grocery shoppers go looking for a can of tuna fish, they must decide which brand to buy. No particular brand will jump off the shelf into their shopping carts. The same is true with automobiles or any other consumer good. First you choose a make and model. Electricity and other utilities, however, are a special case. In the transition from monopoly to competition, consumers face a different prospect.

Byline: 
Kenneth Rose
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