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Law & Lawyers

Taking Utilities Private: Return of the Barbarians

Experts debate whether KKR's leveraged buyout of UniSource Energy is right for the industry.

“From a public policy standpoint, should a utility that provides a vital public good be owned by a private group that gains ownership by taking on a high degree of debt (risk)?” Mark T. Williams, executive-in-residence at the Finance & Economics Department at Boston University, identifies the quintessential issue that will no doubt be heatedly debated in boardrooms and commissions as more utility CEOs are tempted to become private utilities through a leveraged buyout transaction. And tempted they will be.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Payable on Demand

Utilities are finding strategic benefits in demand-based metering technologies.

New metering dramatically expands utilities’ data-handling requirements. Stepping up internal facilities for analyzing this data lets utilities experiment with different price signals and incentives. By gauging the effect on overall load and on grid constraints, utilities can maximize the return on existing transmission assets and reduce the need for new investment. Just as important, utilities can use the new data to develop regulated and competitive products for specific customer niches. This is more than a profit opportunity. It is also part of a utility’s public obligation.
Byline: 

Guerry Waters

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Frontlines: Still More Blackouts?

Do-nothing regulators scare off investment, raising prospects for yet another large-scale power failure.

Let's hope the industry spends the money before Mother Nature throws her next pop quiz.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Letters to the Editor

Virginia SCC

The Virginia SCC clarifies factual inaccuracies in January 2004’s columns "Frontlines" and "Commission Watch: Grid Battle Is Joined."
Byline: 

William H. Chambliss

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Back to the Ratebase

Utilities are absorbing distressed IPPs, and raising alarm bells in the process.

In 2003, just over 1.4 GW of unregulated generating capacity was converted into rate-based assets. At least another 5.6 GW will be converted soon. What supply procurement practices are appropriate in today’s power market?
Byline: 

Michael T. Burr

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Retail Risk-Based Pricing

A new approach to rate design.

Customers with greater risk require greater working capital set-asides to address anomalous or unexpected events.
Byline: 

Gary Dorris and Sean Burrows

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The Road Not Taken

Revisiting performance-based rates with endogenous market designs.

Have regulators selected the wrong market design in their restructurings during the past two decades?
Byline: 

Francis J. Cronin and Stephen A. Motluk

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Technology Corridor: Bridging the Transmission Gap

A digital grid to the home, secured via a local fiber-optic network, could position utilities to fix power and telecom together.

Before billions are spent building new transmission lines to ensure reliable electric service, North American electric utilities should evaluate whether the alternatives — controlling demand and fostering distributed generation — might be more cost-effective and broadly beneficial.
Byline: 

Steven R. Rivkin

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