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Law & Lawyers

The Future of Electric Competition: Concentrated Power

An analysis of competitive power markets finds that oligopolies are the end game for liberalized power markets.

The British wholesale power market is about to enter a new phase. Having enjoyed a long period of surplus capacity, the combination of the forced retirement of some nuclear plant and continued demand growth is likely to lead to a capacity shortage within the next three to four years, and it is by no means clear whether the market, as it currently operates, will be able to maintain secure supplies.
Byline: 

Dr. Anthony White, MBE

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Monopolists in Our Midst

What happens when economists and state regulators give up on electric restructuring?

It’s not to be taken lightly when several high-profile economists reverse themselves on electric competition—giving up on policies they had pushed for years. It’s also quite serious when regulators and legislators in pro-competitive states become willing to discuss a repeal of electric restructuring laws. These developments, seen over the fast few months, have set the industry buzzing.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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People

New Opportunities: Dynegy Inc. announced that Carolyn M. Campbell has been named group general counsel-corporate finance & securities, and corporate secretary. Campbell joins Dynegy from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

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RPS: Should States Get Credit?

The risks in renewable portfolio standards.

State-mandated renewable portfolio standards are being adopted across the country to facilitate the development of renewable energy projects. Nineteen states have enacted renewable portfolio standards, but significant barriers remain to fulfill the potential of RPS. Will RPS actually result in a substantial amount of new project construction?
Byline: 

Gary L. Hunt

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Business & Money

Sticking to the Knitting:

Business & Money

Sticking to the Knitting:

A review of three years of post-Enron stock performance by electric utilities.

Immediately following the Enron collapse, investors dumped the stock of any electric power company that appeared to be pursuing non-traditional growth strategies. Any company that emphasized unregulated businesses-investments in overseas assets, merchant power plant development, and energy marketing and trading-was suspect.

Byline: 
Dean C. Maschoff, Thomas F. Read, and R. John Dingle
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Technology Corridor

Mobile workers provide the next opportunity for utility productivity gains.

Technology Corridor

Mobile workers provide the next opportunity for utility productivity gains.

Field workers at many electric, gas, and water utilities have not realized the benefits of their company's substantial investments in office-based information technology (IT) systems for work and asset management, customer service and billing, geographic information systems, mobile technologies, or even e-mail.

Byline: 
David Rouls
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Energy Risk & Market

<font color="red">SPECIAL SERIES Part 3</font>

SPECIAL SERIES Part 3

Energy Risk & Markets

Default Retail Supply:

New Jersey's recent basic generation service auction shows how ignoring the many sources of risk can be financially ruinous.

Bidding at last year's basic generation service (BGS) auction in New Jersey was generally found to be extremely aggressive as many merchant energy providers watched in amazement as the bid prices continued to fall during the course of the auction.

Byline: 
Tom Brady
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The Global LNG Gamble

The Geopolitical Risks of LNG

The Geopolitical Risks of LNG

To many energy-industry analysts, 2005 is a make-or-break year for the U.S. gas market. If we don't have at least several liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in construction by the end of the year, the country arguably will face serious gas-supply shortages and price spikes beginning in about 2008.1

Byline: 
Michael T. Burr
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Distributed Generation: Who Benefits?

<font color="red">Distributed Generation</font>

Distributed Generation

In the first of three articles, experts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory examine the technical obstacles, deployment, and economic issues surrounding distributed generation.

The existing electric power delivery system is a critical part of this country's economic and societal infrastructure, and proposals to increase the role of distributed energy resources (DER) within this system are welcomed by few in the utility industry.

Byline: 
T.K. Stovall, S.W. Hadley, and D.T. Rizy
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Special Metering Supplement

Metering Supplement

Metering Supplement

presents a special series of articles that clarifies misconceptions and reviews the progress and pitfalls regarding automated metering technology.

Time and time again, the advancement of new technologies has been misunderstood.

Byline: 
March 2005
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