(October 2006) Kansas City Power & Light promoted Kevin Bryant to vice president of Energy Solutions. American Electric Power announced a series of executive reassignments as part of the company’s succession planning strategy. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. elected Bill Morrow as president and COO. Bob Drennan, a 23-year Progress Energy veteran, has been named vice president of investor relations. And others...
(July 2006) The New York Independent System Operator named Rana Mukerji to serve as vice president, market structures. CMS Energy elected Jon E. Barfield as an interim appointee to the company's board of directors and also re-elected 10 incumbents. Pepco Holdings Inc. elected Frank O. Heintz and Lester P. Silverman to the board of directors. TXU Corp. elected the following directors: E. Gail de Planque, Leldon E. Echols, Kerney Laday, Jack E. Little, Gerardo I. Lopez, J.E. Oesterreicher, Michael W. Ranger, Leonard H. Roberts, Glenn F. Tilton, and C. John Wilder. And others...
Gas utilities and state commissions must work together to help preserve rates of return, encourage conservation, and lower customers’ bills.
Interviews
For Public Utilities Fortnightly's 75th Anniversary CEO issue, the magazine looked to the horizon and asked these new captains about the planned course for their companies, and for an entire industry.
Technology Corridor
What made BG&E's system more reliable than Pepco's?
Reliability and customer information systems (CIS) are rarely mentioned in the same breath. After all, utilities spend millions on their outage management systems to help ensure reliability. But in the wake of Hurricane Isabel last fall, the CIS at Baltimore Gas and Electric (BG&E) gets kudos for helping the utility keep on top of a widespread outage.
Frontlines
DSM Revisited
September meeting sends draft legislation back to the drawing board.
Reliability is a self-correcting issue (em if we let it slide, something will happen and it will be corrected ¼ [But] do you want the government to do it?"
That was one industry representative speaking of attempts by the North American Electric Reliability Council (known as NERC) to evolve into a self-regulating reliability organization, or SRRO.
POWER PLANT SALE. Central Maine Power Co. has agreed to
sell its hydroelectric, fossil and biomass power plants totaling 1,185-MW of generating capacity to FPL Group, the holding company of Florida Power and Light. The sale price of $846 million exceeds book value and could permit up to a 10-percent rate cut for customers by the end of the year.
OHIO/TEXAS DEAL. Ohio-based American Electric Power
Co. and Texas-based Central and South West Corp. on Dec.
THE RECENT INCREASE IN MERGER ACTIVITY IN THE energy and telecommunications industries has concerned state regulators for some time. Such concern reveals how the practical or "local" aspects of business deals often clash with broader national issues reviewed by federal authorities in merger cases.
In electric utility mergers, for instance, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will address effects on competition, rates and regulation.
A MASSIVE, WORLD WAR I-era building in downtown Baltimore houses Constellation Power Source, an unregulated, wholly owned power-marketing subsidiary of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. Upon introducing the new company in February, BG&E announced that Goldman Sachs would serve as "exclusive advisor" for the start-up.
Later, when asked to clarify the relationship between the two companies, Charles W.