Mercury Rising
How will the EPA's rulemaking affect U.S. energy markets?
EPA proposes a cap-and-trade program. How does that compare with a Maximum Achievable Control Technology standard?
Congress
What's New at the Firewall
Utilities search for ways to combat viruses and spam.
Spam costs utilities hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, but the threat from spam quickly is becoming a security issue as well.
Trading Spaces? Will CFTC Move Into FERC's House?
Will the CFTC move Into FERC's house?
As the law is written, PJM looks like a commodity futures exchange.
The Utility Sector: A Wall Street Takeover?
Financial players bring credit depth to energy markets, but will they play by the rules?
The center of gravity for energy marketing and trading is moving from Houston to Wall Street. Who’s in, who’s out, and who’s testing the waters?
Commission Watch: Grid Battle Is Joined
FERC's AEP ruling begs the question: Can the feds bypass states that block transmission reform?
A recent ruling puts the question squarely on the table: Can FERC overturn orders issued by the state public utility commissions that otherwise would stand in the way of its vision of regional transmission organizations with a standard market design?
FERC Throws Down The Gauntlet
The legal battle of the century is ready to begin.
A FERC order late last year — that AEP must join the PJM grid to meet conditions of its 2000 merger with Central and Southwest Corp. — was tantamount to a declaration of war with state regulators. At the center of the issue is whether FERC has authority to pre-empt the states on development of regional transmission organizations.
New Nuclear Construction: Still on Hold
A number of factors point to expanded nuclear generation. But when?
A number of factors point to expanded nuclear generation. But when?
The role that nuclear power will play in the U.S. electricity generation mix during the coming decades has been a subject of continuing speculation. Few analysts deny the remarkably improved prospects for the existing fleet of reactors: Efficiencies realized by industry consolidation, reactor uprates, and plant license renewals have, in a period of about five years, greatly increased the market value of nuclear plants and the competitive advantage of companies that own them.
Generation Roundtable: Power Flux
Generators struggle to plan for the future as they cope with an unstable present.
Generators struggle to plan for the future as they cope with an unstable present.
When the acting administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Marianne Horinko, signed the EPA's "routine replacement" rule on Aug. 27, 2003, she proclaimed that the new approach to Clean Air Act regulation would "provide … power plants with the regulatory certainty they need."
Commission Watch
Feds seek plug-and-play for distributed generation, but utilities want the power to stay local.
Commission Watch
Feds seek plug-and-play for distributed generation, but utilities want the power to stay local.
Pity the poor Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). With its market crusade out of favor, and transmission reform suddenly suspect after the Aug. 14 blackout, it could use a new agenda.
Perspective
A decade of restructuring has not affected the financial integrity of the average regulated utility.
Perspective
A decade of restructuring has not affected the financial integrity of the average regulated utility.
Ideological bias, economic principles, success of previous deregulation, inordinate greed, and political expediency fueled the movement for electricity deregulation. The authorities, however, never deregulated. They chose to restructure.