cost allocation

Utilities and BPL: Betting Against the Odds

Why broadband over power line (BPL) can't stand alone as a high-speed Internet offering.

Broadband over power line (BPL) wants to compete with cable modems and DSL for high-speed Internet customers, but BPL providers can make the technology more attractive by bundling the service with other product offerings.

Profit Without Costs

An analysis of participant funding in natural gas and electricity markets.

An analysis of participant funding in natural gas and electricity markets.

Of all the issues in the energy industry, no matter how technically or scientifically complex, none is more important than fairness. Price spikes, contract reformation, market manipulation-all hot-button issues during the last four years-revolve around a core value held by practitioners and regulators alike: Are the prices that exist in the marketplace just and reasonable?

FERC's GulfTerra Orders: Chnages in the Pipeline

A new FERC decision veers away from congressional intent not to burden intrastate pipelines with interstate policies.

A new FERC decision veers away from congressional intent not to burden intrastate pipelines with interstate policies.

State commissions can set intrastate natural gas pipeline transportation rates except when the intrastate pipeline moves gas in interstate commerce. Then, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulates the rates under evolving Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA) standards. Two recent FERC orders in a GulfTerra Texas Pipeline L.P.

keys to Transmission and Distribution Reliability

A coordinated approach helps control costs.

A coordinated approach helps control costs.

Historically, transmission and distribution assets have been quiet utility stepchildren- generally ignored by both regulators and senior utility management while, their generating asset relations remained in the limelight. But as restructuring of the electric industry evolved in the 1990s, a looming competitive environment created strong pressures within utilities to reduce spending.

Commission Watch

ISO New England dares to dream, again.

Commission Watch

ISO New England dares to dream, again.

ISO New England (ISO-NE) wants to become a regional transmission organization (RTO). But just the idea-prior to any official filing at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-has come under attack. ISO-NE is going to find rough waters ahead, despite a three-year effort aimed at a smooth transition to becoming an RTO. And now with the Oct. 31 filing of the 2,000-plus-page RTO proposal at FERC, the stage is set for these battles to be fought, again.

Gen Interconnection: Lessons From New England

How rules muted price signals and did not ensure efficient siting.


 

How rules muted price signals and did not ensure efficient siting.

Of the new rules proposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for interconnecting new power plants to the transmission grid, the most controversial (for transmission providers and generators alike) is FERC's choice of who should pay to construct the various categories of required new facilities.

Perspective

When we build transmission and spread the costs, we lose the market signal of the real cost of power.

Perspective

Regulators will have to decide who pays to upgrade the transmission system.


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Regulators will have to decide who pays to upgrade the transmission system.

Entergy's Grid Grab

Will tomorrow's transmission be privately funded, with the first-class seats reserved for investors?

The six o'clock news has locked its radar on California's power market meltdown, and rightly so. But that's no reason to overlook the nation's heartland, where a utility coming late to the game has set the pot boiling.