Electric Light & Power articles from January 2003

Electric Light & Power archives from January 2003

NSR changes trip fewer triggers.
January 1, 2003... In November 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released both proposed and final changes to New Source Review (NSR), the major air pollution permitting program that applies to most power plant projects. It appears that the...

Demise of PSE's TOU program imparts lessons.
January 1, 2003... Puget Sound Energy (PSE) serves about a million customers in the suburbs of Seattle. In May of 2001, PSE designed and implemented a time-of-use (TOU) rate for its residential and small commercial customers (see Electric Light & Power, February...

Guarded optimism. (Commentary).
January 1, 2003... This describes the overall tone conveyed by the keynote speakers at POWER-GEN International 2002 in Orlando last month. Don't get me wrong--it wasn't doom and gloom, but it also wasn't a tent revival. It seemed to be somewhere right in the...

Taking CEO to task. (Letter to the Editor).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... I have read EL&P for most of my career. I have enjoyed it and have benefited from your objective reporting of power industry information. You have done consistently well by providing information in a legible and concise format. I just read...

PBS&J acquires Durham. (Mergers and Acquisitions).(Durham Technologies Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Engineering and consulting firm PBS&J has acquired Durham Technologies Inc., a firm specializing in the development of analytical methodologies for risk measurement, modeling and management.

MDU to purchase facility. (Mergers and Acquisitions).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... MDU Resources Group Inc. announced that its Centennial Power Inc. subsidiary has entered into an agreement to purchase the 66.6 MW Mountain View wind-powered electric generation facility from San Gorgonio Power Corp., an affiliate of PG&E...

MPSC grants rate increase. (Legal and Regulatory).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) has approved Upper Peninsula Power Co.'s request to increase base rates for its retail customers by approximately 8.95 percent. This is the first base rate increase for the company in 10 years. The...

Unitil files for rate decrease. (Legal and Regulatory).
January 1, 2003... Unitil Corp.'s wholly owned subsidiary, Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Co., filed for a decrease in its electric rates for its standard offer customers with the Massachusetts Dept. of Telecommunications and Enerpy. If approved, the proposed...

Executive appointments. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Great Plains Energy: The company will retain Greg Orman as a company advisor, but he will resign as executive vice president. Avista Corp.: Dr. Lura Powell has been appointed to the board of directors. Exelon Corp.: Elizabeth Moler has...

How to build infrastructure in the NIMBY era. (News).
January 1, 2003... Before September 11th, Enron, WorldCom and Martha Stewart, the overwhelming need to upgrade our nation's energy infrastructure made national headlines. In fact, it was a primary focus of the Bush administration. Even though national...

Meter data processing provides no silver bullet. (News).
January 1, 2003... Meter data is the lifeblood of any utility, primarily because it forms the basis for billing customers and so is directly tied to revenue. The strategic importance of the data, however, has only recently begun to emerge. Utilities are now...

Benefit of counsel: allocating CRRs to benefit load and facilitate markets. (News).
January 1, 2003... This month we consider the issue of the allocation of congestion revenue rights ("CRRs") in the context of the FERC's proposed Standard Market Design. While there is general agreement that CRR benefits should ultimately flow to load based on...

Study says some customers worse off after restructuring. (News).(energy market restructuring)
January 1, 2003... A five-state study by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) on how residential consumers have been affected by energy market restructuring documented the adverse impacts of passing through short-term wholesale energy rates to...

Power complex utilizes outside training. (News).
January 1, 2003... Maintaining high productivity and strong company systems in a dynamically growing, multi-site power plant complex can pose numerous problems, particularly in training. Many power companies find that to assure training won't be compromised, it...

Many small businesses willing to pay their utilities for energy management services. (News).
January 1, 2003... While data from a survey of 50 utility companies shows that almost three-fourths (74 percent) say they offer energy management consulting to commercial and industrial (C&I) customers, many of them are ignoring their small business customers...

Electric Light & Power to sponsor EMACS 2003 Conference & Expo. (News).(Energy Marketing and Customer Service Conference and Expo 2003)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... PennWell's Electric Light & Power Magazine (EL&P) will be a sponsoring publication of EMACS 2003, the fastest growing knowledge-sharing event for customer service and marketing professionals in the utility and retail energy industry, EMACS...

Ontario to fall from 11th to 28th place in North American progress on electric competition. (News).
January 1, 2003... Ontario Premier Ernie Eves' drastic Nine-Point Plan in response to the province's current competitive electricity regime will result in both long and short-term harm to the province's economy, according to a report issued by the Canadian Centre...

Venture capital volume continues to lag. (Finance).
January 1, 2003... General market venture capital investments in 2002 are expected to post their weakest showing since the year of funding spanning 1996 through 1997. Mirroring this trend, when the books are closed on 2002, the energy sector will have seen only...

SDG&E files five-year proposal. (Finance).(San Diego Gas and Electric, with California Public Utilities Commission)
January 1, 2003... San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) filed with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for review and approval of its Cost-of-Service case, a detailed projection of its expenses and revenue requirements for 2004 and a formula for...

Court rules to keep defendants in Enron shareholders' lawsuit. (Finance).
January 1, 2003... The federal judge handling the Enron Corp. securities lawsuit ruled against several major financial institutions, law firms and Arthur Andersen, substantially denying most defendants' motions to be dismissed from the case. The ruling clears the...

A roadmap for credit analysis. (Electric & Gas Trading).
January 1, 2003... Many events in recent months have led to a heightened awareness among board members, CEOs, CFOs, risk managers and shareholders of the amount of potential exposure arising from counterparty default. To assist companies in managing credit risk...

FERC judge dismisses Nev. case against Allegheny Energy Supply. (Electric & Gas Trading).(Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... A Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) administrative law judge has dismissed a complaint by Nevada utilities against Allegheny Energy Supply, a subsidiary of Allegheny Energy Inc. The judge's decision will now go to three FERC...

Power industry sees only modest growth in capital spending. (Industry Report).(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2003... The electric power market is an exceedingly dynamic one, with many opposing underlying factors at work concurrently. Electric power companies spend an enormous amount of money on capital projects every year to ensure a steady stream of revenue...

Turning potential into reality with utility e-billing. (Information Technology Customer Systems).
January 1, 2003... The monthly billing cycle is one of the most common occurrences in American life. An estimated 18 billion recurring bills are sent to American consumers, who then send back 23 billion checks in payment. Killen & Associates estimates that of the...

Bandwidth case study: Nevada Power chooses Belden. (Information Technology Customer Systems).(Belden all-copper DataTwist network)
January 1, 2003... It's not often you hear of a company contemplating the switch to an all-copper system from its half-fiber/half-copper communications network. But that's exactly what Nevada Power Company did recently--and they have already gained tremendously...

Making the right investments in CRM could impact your bottom line. (Information Technology Customer Systems).(customer relationship management)
January 1, 2003... Restructuring is unfolding at various stages across the United States and around the world. The consequence for utilities is a transformed model for customer relationship management (CRM). Those companies operating for the first time in a...

Managing mobility: ten tips to protect your laptops. (Information Technology Customer Systems).
January 1, 2003... They're everywhere: laptops, smart phones and PDAS. Once reserved for the elite and the traveling business professional, these technologies are now being deployed in organizations at an astonishishng rate. According to GartnerGroup, four out of...

Seamless outsourcing allows utilities to focus. (Information Technology Customer Systems).
January 1, 2003... When a Duke Power customer telephones the company to discuss credit and collection issues, they doubtlessly assume that they are speaking to a company employee. However, the call has been routed through the Duke phone system and into a call...

Experts worry that SMD will weaken grid. (Transmission & Distribution).(standard market design)
January 1, 2003... FERC's latest notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) on standard market design (SMD) has the transmission community thinking seriously about where this is all going. And, some are concerned that the SMD could weaken, not strengthen the...

Power system monitoring: a key to optimizing utility performance. (Transmission & Distribution).
January 1, 2003... Deregulation has increased the need to understand the expected reliability and power quality characteristics of utility power systems. This information must be developed through monitoring programs that characterize system performance. The...

How to increase plant efficiency through positive O&M. (Generation).(operations and maintenance at power plants, includes related article)
January 1, 2003... With the recent economic downturn of the power industry in the United States, it has become increasingly important for every plant owner to ensure that each facility is performing at its peak. In order for that to occur, plant owners must...

Environmentalists sue Bush Administration. (Generation: Briefs).(global warming inaction by US Environmental Protection Agency)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... In December, a coalition of environmental organizations which includes CTA, Sierra Club and Greenpeace, announced that it is suing the Bush Administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its continued failure to take action on...

Siemens Westinghouse signs long-term service plan contracts. (Generation: Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The Instrumentation & Controls Division of Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation (SWPC) headquartered in Alpharetta, GA, announced it has signed Long Term Service Plan (LTSP) contracts with eight customers in recent months. The scope of the...

Canada gives thumbs-up to Kyoto. (Generation: Briefs).(greenhouse gas emission program)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... In the week before Christmas, Canada ratified Kyoto; however, implementation is contingent upon ratification by other countries. According to Lehman Brothers, this would negatively impact most, if not all, oil and gas operations in Canada; they...

Make your criticism pay off. (Management Methods).(employee appraisal)(Column)
January 1, 2003... Few managers relish criticizing their people. Appraisal and counseling sessions frequently create hostility and often do more harm than good to the employee-manager relationship. Yet, there are times when criticism is unavoidable. And it is...

Primer on supercritical steam. (Power Pointers).
January 1, 2003... Thermodynamics govern the ultimate performance of Rankine cycles whether they are used in a coal fired steam power plant or the bottoming cycle of a combined cycle plant. In order to increase the efficiency of those cycles, higher pressure and...