Climate Change: The Heat Is On
From reporting to trading, utilities try to meet new expectations.
Implementing a strategy on climate change is a new sign of corporate responsibility, and utilities are responding in a variety of ways.
Entergy
What Is a Power Plant Worth?
The consequences of exuberance are all around us.
Investors put $50 billion into new generating capacity because they expected that electricity restructuring would lead to the formation of a small number of effective, regional transmission organizations, which would make the location of a generating facility less important in the future. Based on that assumption, developers placed many plants close to a source of fuel, not close to market. For many companies, that has turned out to be a fatal mistake.
People
People for January 2004.
Positions filled at Southern Co., Southwest Power Pool, Avista Corp., and others.
Business & Money
FERC's ruling on cash management programs will introduce new transparency into how utilities manage their cash.
Business & Money
FERC's ruling on cash management programs will introduce new transparency into how utilities manage their cash.
On Oct. 22, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruled that FERC-regulated entities must file their cash management agreements with the commission and notify the commission within 45 days after the end of each calendar quarter when their proprietary capital ratio drops below 30 percent, and when it subsequently returns to or exceeds 30 percent.
People
New Oportunities:
People
New Oportunities:
Philip Carroll Jr. returned to ScottishPower as a non-executive director. According to the Comtex News Network, Carroll left ScottishPower earlier in 2003 to assist with the rebuilding of infrastructure in post-war Iraq.
Chesapeake Utilities hired Joe Steinmetz as its director of Internal Audit. Steinmetz served in the same position with Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment Inc. and Dover Motorsports Inc. from 2001 to 2003 before being promoted to assisted controller.
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.
Business & Money
Obtaining a position measurement in energy markets has become more complex and has increased financial risks for integrated utilities.
Business & Money
Obtaining a position measurement in energy markets has become more complex and has increased financial risks for integrated utilities.
"What's your position?" The answer to that simple question in today's energy markets is anything but simple. In fact, answering this question may be the single most difficult challenge faced by a fully integrated energy firm in its efforts to manage risk.
Business & Money
Wall Street bankers say utilities are not effectively telling their story.
Business & Money
Wall Street bankers say utilities are not effectively telling their story.
Business & Money
The application of FASB Statement No. 13 can result in unforeseen changes to the financial statements and, in turn, financial ratios of a utility.
Business & Money
The application of FASB Statement No. 13 can result in unforeseen changes to the financial statements and, in turn, financial ratios of a utility.
The Blackout of 2003: Why We Fell Into The Heart of darkness
The road to the current reliability crisis is paved with four decades of bad policy decisions.
The road to the current reliability crisis is paved with four decades of bad policy decisions.
The technical causes of the great Northeast blackout of August 2003 are coming into focus. For reasons yet unknown as of press time, transmission lines in northern Ohio were lost to the grid, and within seconds 50 million people in the United States and Canada were without power. Soon we will no doubt know the specific reasons for the blackout, and technical corrections and improvements will be made.