HQ Energy Services US: A Wholesaler Finds a Niche
CEO Forum: Christopher Anderson, President of HQ Energy Services US
“You can’t stop this. The bottom line for me is the energy markets are going to get a lot bigger despite what happens post-Enron.”
Law & Lawyers
Aquila: New-Look Company Still Bullish on Risk Management
CEO Power Forum: Robert Green, President and CEO of Aquila
“We want to see the framework for investment in transmission clarified so that we can attract capital to de-bottleneck the transmission grid and continue to restructure the transmission segment so there’s no discrimination and we can freely flow electrons across the grid to meet our clients’ requirements.”
Xcel Energy: Utility Sizes Up Mergers and Re-Acquisitions
CEO Power Forum: Wayne Brunetti, Chairman, President, and CEO of Xcel Energy
“We believe the PJM model can’t work in markets as big as the Western market. It might work well in PJM but it’s a pretty confined geographic area.”
Sempra Energy: Calif. Utility Prospers in State of Uncertainty
CEO Power Forum: Stephen Baum, Chairman, President, and CEO of Sempra Energy
“One lesson, of course, is you can’t raise prices too high, too fast. I think that’s clear. You get what I call the French Revolution syndrome.”
PSEG: N.J. Utility Rides Unregulated Wave to the Bank
CEO Power Forum: James Ferland, Chairman, President, and CEO of Public Service Enterprise Group
“We’re running our generation operations with about 40 percent fewer people than we had 10 years ago, and other parts of the country could benefit from similar kinds of competitive pressures.”
Alliant Energy: Pushing for a Coherent Policy
CEO Power Forum: Erroll B. Davis Jr., Chairman, President, and CEO of Alliant Energy
“I, personally, have always been, and I continue to be, for competition at every level. But I’m not spending a lot of personal time, energy, or political capital, pushing issues of retail choice at this point.”
The Top 10
The Ten Most Intriguing Business Decisions in the Post-Enron World.
10. Exelon throws in the towel on pebble bed; 9. Exelon, Entergy, Dominion ready to do the rounds on traditional nuclear; 8. AES wants out of Cilcorp marriage; 7. New-look Aquila goes hunting ...
Electricity Restructuring is No License for Central Planning
RTOs will perpetuate regional monopolies and political rate regulation.
Economists sometimes get confused - especially when the real world doesn't fit into their neat boxes.
Network industries like telephone and electricity are today's case in point. Economists have viewed these parts of the economy as requiring special attention from regulatory authorities. They're viewed as "natural" monopolies displaying "economies of scope" and characterized by risky "lock-in" or "path dependency" features. That supposedly makes them prone to abuse by their free-market owners, and therefore in need of impartial regulatory oversight.
TXU: Texas Company Vies in World's Competitive Markets
CEO Power Forum: Erle Nye, Chairman and CEO of TXU
“If where they are, those rates are coming down and the service is being maintained, then they’ve benefitted from competition even though they make no choice at all.”
Distributed Generation: Hype vs. Hope
Separating myth from reality in identifying DG applications.
Technological breakthroughs in distributed generation have not materialized as quickly as expected. Furthermore, manufacturers have continued to improve traditional generation technologies. So what role can DG play?