Electric Light & Power articles from September 2003

Electric Light & Power archives from September 2003

Blackout.
September 1, 2003... I've heard enough reports about the blackout to write a book. We all have. At this point, we've all heard so much that each and every one of us could be interviewed as potential experts just from the coverage on CNN alone. But, all the...

Shareholders vs. ratepayers--who foots the bill for reliability?(commentary)
September 1, 2003... New Jersey electric customers had an interesting summer, to say the least. Yes, they were in the dark along with much of the Northeast on August 14, but that didn't seem to raise their ire nearly as much as certain other utility-related matters...

This month online ...
September 1, 2003... www.elp.com/onlineextra Benefit of Counsel Coop acquisitions and PUHCA repeal (hie to, or hide from?) Kevin T. Williams A perennial "hot topic" seems to be repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act. The inevitable...

Tech talk: What vendors, marketers have to say about the blackout.(news)
September 1, 2003... Transmission hardware Ed Gray, the director of energy policy at the National Electrical Manufacturers Assn., suggests the following technology solutions to help the grid: * Addition of multiple conductors per phase for extra...

Can electrical subsystems prevent the next big blackout?(news)
September 1, 2003... President Bush labeled last week's blackout a "wake-up call" to upgrade the transmission system, but simply building more lines and more generators or adding additional protective relaying schemes will not guarantee that a similar event will...

Protecting power in your pajamas.(news)(US HomeGuard plan by Jay Walker)
September 1, 2003... With his establishment of priceline.com and the Web site's subsequent kitsch loving commercials, Walker Digital's chairman Jay Walker was the reason we were tortured with the song stylings of William Shatner. These days, however, Walker is...

How to minimize cascading event probabilities.(news)
September 1, 2003... Cascading events can generally be traced to transient system disturbances, improperly managed transmission congestion, generation deficiencies or cyber attacks. Regulatory, operational and planning reforms are required to minimize the...

Putting out the fire: can we quell the natural gas crisis?(news)(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Part two of a two-part series. We've spent the summer mired in a "natural gas crisis." Whether the predictions were real or imagined, too far-fetched or not dramatic enough for your tastes, the impact has been obvious: power utilities...

From old school to new wave--CEO fuels the drive at Itron.(Advertorial)(Advertisement)
September 1, 2003... LeRoy Nosbaum learned early in his career that the bottom line for running a company is making money and serving customers without holding employee's hands during the process. But to move the company beyond its roots in automated...

Institutional investors cozy up to IOU favorites.(finance)(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Participation (or lack thereof) from institutional investors to a large extent determines investor-owned utilities' (IOUs) likelihood of financially thriving or foundering. The most significant forms of this patronage, amid current market...

Mixed results in slow financial recovery of 2002: strategy changes poise companies to pick up the pace in 2003.(industry report)(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... Wishes for a speedy financial recovery may have gone unheeded, but all indications suggest an optimistic prognosis for continued recovery--albeit slow. Although dramatic improvement is absent from EL&P's 2002 financial rankings, the more...

NorthWestern Energy takes natural gas case to Montana district court.(electric & gas trading)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Butte, Mont. NorthWestern Energy, which provides natural gas to nearly 160 000 residential and commercial customers in Montana, has filed suit in Lewis and Clark County District Court seeking to overturn the Montana Public Service...

Duke gives thumbs up to southeast U.S. pipeline expansion, thumbs down to project near Boston.(Quick facts: natural gas & LNG)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Duke gives thumbs up to southeast U.S. pipeline expansion, thumbs down to project near Boston: In spite of the delay of a 620 MW power plant (put on hold until 2005) in Virginia being developed by Duke Energy North America, a Duke Energy...

U.S. natural gas drillers struggle to maintain production levels.(Quick facts: natural gas & LNG)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
September 1, 2003... U.S. natural gas drillers struggle to maintain production levels: Standard & Poor's reported that despite the environment of high prices for oil and natural gas that has existed since last year, only in recent months have these prices led to...

Sempra Energy receives permits for North American LNG facilities.(Quick facts: natural gas & LNG)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Sempra Energy receives permits for North American LNG facilities: Sempra Energy's Energia Costa Azul LNG receiving terminal in Baja California, Mexico, received permits from Comision Reguladora de Energia, Mexico's national energy regulatory...

GE supplies services for Nigerian LNG plant.(Quick facts: natural gas & LNG)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... GE supplies services for Nigerian LNG plant: GE Power Systems has signed a 28-year contractual service agreement to provide maintenance and other services to Nigeria LNG Limited for as many as 22 gas turbines and 18 compressors at one of the...

ChevronTexaco signs MOU to bring LNG to U.S.(Quick facts: natural gas & LNG)(memorandum of understanding for Liquefied Natural Gas)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... ChevronTexaco signs MOU to bring LNG to U.S.: ChevronTexaco Corp signed an MOU with the Gorgon Joint Venture in Australia for the supply of LNG for distribution to markets on the West Coast of North America, which could lead to the supply of at...

Technip USA signs contract award for Freeport LNG terminal.(Quick facts: natural gas & LNG)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Technip USA signs contract award for Freeport LNG terminal: Freeport LNG Development L.P. and Technip USA Corp., a subsidiary of Technip, have signed a contract for the front end engineering design (FEED) leading to the finalization of the EPC...

Banks ask FERC to exclude hedging from stockholding limit.(electric & gas trading)(Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Two large U.S. banks that want to trade wholesale power requested that FERC exclude some hedging activities from an agency utility stockholding limit. FERC raised the utility-ownership limit in June on Swiss-based UBS AG and Bank of...

Williams finalizes sale.(Berry Petroleum Co. acquires properties of Williams Oil Co.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Williams finalizes sale: Williams has completed the previously announced sale of its Brundage Canyon, Utah, oil end gas properties. Berry Petroleum Co. purchased the properties, which consist of approximately 43,500 net acres in northeastern...

AEP, FERC settle.(American Electric Power)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... AEP, FERC settle: According to a Dow Jones report, American Electric Power (AEP) end the FERC have come to an agreement on charges that AEP manipulated power markets in 2000-2001. AEP will pay $45,240 under the agreement, which equals the...

Cinergy selects NewEnergy Associates.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Cinergy selects NewEnergy Associates: Cinergy Corp.'s energy merchant business unit has selected Siemens Westinghouse subsidiary NewEnergy Associates to provide an automated system for managing new energy market processes within the Midwest ISO...

OEMI chooses Triple Point.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... OEMI chooses Triple Point: Triple Point Technology, a provider of fully-integrated front- to back-office systems for energy marketing end other commodities, has been chosen by Occidental Energy Marketing Inc. (OEMI). OEMI has licensed Triple...

Entergy says employees may be at fault.(misreported prices and volumes )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Entergy says employees may be at fault: In a Reuters report, Entergy Corp. stated that some of its trading venture employees "may have misreported prices and volumes to industry publications." A regulatory filing quoted in the report went on to...

Nuclear power plants are vital for energy diversity, clean air.(generation)
September 1, 2003... Within hours of adjourning for its summer recess, the U.S. Senate passed comprehensive energy policy legislation that includes a number of nuclear energy-related provisions. Among these provisions are funding for the Department of Energy's...

Nevada residents resigned to Yucca Mountain.(generation)
September 1, 2003... Washington, D.C. A recent Nuclear Energy Institute-sponsored survey on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project shows that voters believe the region is increasingly on the wrong track but that they are resigned to the idea that the project...

Steel poles help electrify Great White North.(transmission & distribution)(Valmont Industries Inc. contract for Golden Valley Electric Association Inc.)
September 1, 2003... Valmont Industries Inc. recently completed the design and construction of 530 steel structures for a 230-kilovolt transmission line from Fairbanks to Healy, Alaska, one of its largest utility projects ever. Additionally, conditions for the...

Growing concerns about EMF?(transmission & distribution)
September 1, 2003... Electric and magnetic fields (EMF health claims are once again being raised by opponents of new lines and sub stations. In the last 12 months, there has been opposition to new facilities on EMF health grounds in Georgia, Florida, New York,...

IT case study: maintaining the billing process in a M&A environment.(information technology customer systems)(Company Profile)
September 1, 2003... While many companies have undergone mergers and acquisitions to increase growth and market share, there is often inadequate consideration and planning of the effort required to integrate the merged organizations' IT systems, especially the...

Industry votes to approve NERC cyber security standard.(information technology customer systems)(National Electric Reliability Council)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The electric industry has voted to approve a cyber security standard that will help to ensure the continued reliability of North American bulk electric systems by reducing risks resulting from efforts to compromise critical industry cyber...

PAR3, ORCOM from alliance.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... PAR3, ORCOM from alliance: ORCOM, a provider of outsourced customer care and billing services, has joined the PAR3 Alliance Network via a strategic reseller alliance. ORCOM will offer utilities PAR3's automated multi-channel customer...

Utility selects MDSI.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Utility selects MDSI: MDSI Mobile Data Solutions Inc. has signed a contract to supply its Advantex solution to "one of the largest electric utilities in the U.S." The utility was unnamed in the statement. According to the company, Advantex will...

Knoxville using SPL.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Knoxville using SPL: SPL WorldGroup has announced that the Knoxville Utilities Board is its first customer to sign up for post-implemantation operational support services under its new retention services option. Under the terms of the...

FirstEnergy, Cinergy choose Pantellos.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... FirstEnergy, Cinergy choose Pantellos: Cinergy Corp. and FirstEnergy Corp. have selected the Pantellos eSettlement Network, an electronic payables system, to further automate their procure-to-pay processes. The Pantellos eSettlement Network...

Utility auctions exceed $1B.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Utility auctions exceed $1B: In additional Pantellos news, they have conducted more than $1 billion in online reverse auctions for its utility customers, generating more than $190 million in customer-reported savings and an 18 percent average...

Intermountain gas selects customer watch.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Intermountain Gas selects Customer Watch: Intermountain Gas Co. has selected Conversant's Customer Watch system to manage its customer care and billing needs.

Primen launches project.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Primen launches project: Fifteen U.S. electric utilities have signed on as sponsors for a new Primen research project to develop a simulation tool that win model the links between service performance and customer satisfaction in the commercial...

Calendar events.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
September 1, 2003... SEPTEMBER 23-25 Int'l Construction & Utility Equipment Expo Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers (818/558-1278) www.icuee.com Louisville, Ken. 23-25 POWER-GEN Asia PennWell Confs. & Exhibitions (918/831-9160)...