SPP

ISOs: A Grid-by-Grid Comparison

BY THE START OF 1998, FOUR INDEPENDENT SYSTEM operators already were in operation and conditionally approved: ISO-NE, PJM and California by the FERC and Texas by the state PUC. Three more were either pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or expected to be filed in the coming months (New York, Midwest and IndeGO in the Northwest). Three additional efforts to develop ISO proposals were under way (DesertSTAR, MAPP and SPP). The Southeast is now the only large region of the contiguous United States without an ISO concept.

Order 888 Dispute Lands at FERC

The Truckee Donner Public Utility District has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to resolve an Order 888 transmission dispute with Sierra Pacific Power Co.

Truckee buys most of its power from SPP but wants the freedom to shop around for less expensive electricity from other suppliers. Truckee is located high on the Eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, within SPP's service territory and is not connected with any other utility.

1996 Regulators' Forum

As electric restructuring rockets to the top of state public utility commission agendas, regulators find themselves pushed in every direction. Pushing the hardest, in most cases, are legislators, who, like commissioners, are being lobbied by utilities, industrial consumers, and sometimes, residential customers. Each party has its agenda. Some wield more clout than others.

Public Utilities Fortnightly asked eight commissioners about the demands of restructuring and about an issue particular to their state.

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Comments by P.

OASIS: Networking on the Grid

Despite a recent delay, the stage

appears set for online trading

in electric transmission capacity.

THIS IS ONLY A TEST (EM FOR NOW.

But come January, if all goes well, the OASIS program will start up in real time, with customers venturing onto the Internet to place reservations for capacity on the nation's electric transmission grid.

Evolving FERC Merger Policy Delays "Altus" Deal

It appears that The Washington Water Power Co. (WWP) and Sierra Pacific Power Co. (SPP), which were hoping for a quick OK on their proposed merger to form "Altus," may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Instead of a perfunctory approval, the WWP/SPP merger now may become the test case for evolving merger policy at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Perhaps the utilities should have seen it coming. In approving the Midwest Power Systems, Inc./Iowa-Illinois Gas & Electric Co. merger, FERC Commissioners William L.

Nevada Delays Merger

The Nevada Public Service Commission (PSC) has postponed further hearings indefinitely on the proposed merger between Sierra Pacific Power Co. (SPP) and Washington Water Power Co. (WWP).

Trends

Average generation costs for the nation's electric utilities fell in 1994, primarily due to reductions in delivered fuel prices. Production costs declined by 3.5 percent, averaging just $1.89 per kilowatt-hour (Kwh) by year's end.

The WSCC is the only NERC (North American Electric Reliability) region where production cost increased (em 2.6 percent in 1994 (em as reduced hydro output in California was replaced by more costly natural gas-fired generation.