PG&E

Boardroom Showdown

Investors are revolting against poor corporate governance, demanding tighter controls that will boost earnings and stock price.

Investors are revolting against poor corporate governance, demanding tighter controls that will boost earnings and stock price.

A new wave of activism has risen in corporate America, driven by large institutional shareholders who claim companies have not gone far enough in their efforts to embrace good governance. These institutional shareholders maintain that good governance leads to superior financial performance and will not be satisfied unless the companies do more to implement good governance policy.

Blackouts? never Again! (But...)

We ask merchant grid developers if anything can ever be done.

We ask merchant grid developers if anything can ever be done.

 

The blackout of August 2003 should have come as no surprise. The Department of Energy's May 2002 National Transmission Grid Study finds growing evidence that the U.S. transmission system is in urgent need of modernization.

California Experiment: Dynamic Pricing for the Mass Market

Will the state launch a full-scale rollout of dynamic tariffs?


Will the state launch a full-scale rollout of dynamic tariffs?

A pilot program in California is putting dynamic pricing and advanced metering to the test.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved a Statewide Pricing Pilot (SPP) in March,1 at a cost of approximately $10 million, including metering, project planning, management, evaluation, and concurrent market research on non-pilot participants focused on customer preferences for rate options.2

The SPP has the following objectives:

California Experiment: Dynamic Pricing for the Mass Market

Will the state launch a full-scale rollout of dynamic tariffs?


Will the state launch a full-scale rollout of dynamic tariffs?

A pilot program in California is putting dynamic pricing and advanced metering to the test.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved a Statewide Pricing Pilot (SPP) in March,1 at a cost of approximately $10 million, including metering, project planning, management, evaluation, and concurrent market research on non-pilot participants focused on customer preferences for rate options.2

The SPP has the following objectives:

Commission Watch

FERC looks ahead to the new year as it wraps up loose ends from 2002.

FERC: SMD/Grid Issues Lead 2003 Agenda

 

 

A Dynamic Mission: Protecting Utility Assets

State public service commissions are insisting that utilities adopt risk management programs, and are allowing less pass-through for those that don't.

Many electric utilities have been on high alert since Sept. 11 to protect the assets within their systems from cyber and physical attack. For instance, 21 U.S. nuclear reactors are located within five miles of an airport, but 96 percent of all U.S. reactors were designed without regard for the potential for impact from even a small aircraft.

Gas Turbinemania: The Merchant Power Plant Shake Out

Why it happened? Who lost in the bust? Who will survive to build another turbine?

Some merchant generation developers never saw the generation glut coming. Presenting the winners and losers of the latest cycle of boom, bubble, and collapse in the merchant generation industry.

Biting Pat Wood's Hand

FERC finds the states have teeth, too.

FERC Chairman Pat Wood ought to be commended for trying to extend a hand of cooperation to state PUCs. But certainly he must by now understand that the nature of the state regulator, as the nature of the wolf, is unchangeable.