Commentary
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Nov 27, 2002 |
Given the confluence of greater projected natural gas-fired electricity generation capacity, relatively small amount of natural gas storage to provide price buffers, increasing fundamental demand from industrial, commercial and residential users, unpredictable weather patterns, demand-driven transportation capacity constraints, and the higher marginal cost of procuring reliable natural gas supply, the United States is going to feel increasing upward gas price pressure, all other things being equal. -
Nov 26, 2002 |
With today’s high cost of energy, just paying the electric bill for an average home can cause sticker shock. Imagine, then, how the operators of the San Diego Convention Center—a seven-city-block long, 2.6 million square-foot state-of-the art complex— must feel. -
Nov 26, 2002 |
This week, Premier of Ontario announced a freeze on electricity prices and rebates for energy consumers, due to high prices this summer, after the provincial energy market was deregulated in May. The government said that retail rates would be capped at 4.3 cents per kilowatt hour to be effective Dec.1, and this freeze will last until 2006. -
Nov 25, 2002 |
Many non-trading entities have corporate policy statements that make dynamic portfolio management an unauthorized activity. Whether this is a correct corporate decision is debatable and much has been written about the advisability of dynamic portfolio hedging. What is not debatable is that existing risk management software systems may not correlate to corporate policies. -
Nov 25, 2002 |
The Importance of Energy Efficiency to the United States
To begin with, it is essential to dispel the myth that the energy crisis is over. In fact, the United States is likely to continue to face an electricity capacity shortfall and a transmission crisis in the coming years because of the following reasons: -
Nov 22, 2002 |
Synopsis: PowerCool, a patented system for increasing power output can increase profit when prices are low, increasing asset and shareholder value. -
Nov 21, 2002 |
Suffice it to say we’ve received a lot of responses to the story we ran in the 10/25 issue of The Desk, “The Next Hammer to Fall.” The story honed in on the apparent manipulation (or attempted manipulation) of gas and power indices by seemingly everybody , and for a very long time. -
Nov 21, 2002 |
For the purposes of having the electric power industry adopt the best market design practices of the existing Independent System Operators (ISOs) and of avoiding disasters like that experienced in California, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has recently proposed that all transmission-owning utilities file tariffs that comply with a Standard Market Design (SMD). -
Nov 20, 2002 |
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, signed into law on July 30, seeks to address the precipitous loss of investor confidence in the U.S. capital markets. This loss of confidence by investors is the result of the corporate implosions and financial scandals that have taken place in the U.S. during the past several months. -
Nov 20, 2002 |The way in which utilities choose to install their underground facilities today will determine the integrity of those facilities for years to come.

