The blizzard that blanketed the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast lastweek forced the cancellation of a major meeting that was called toconsider whether the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB) shouldexpand its reach to develop national standards not only for theretail gas market, but for the retail and wholesale power markets.

The meeting, which was to have been attended by about 200energy-related officials, was scheduled for last Wednesday at theDepartment of Energy’s (DOE) headquarters in Washington D.C., butit was scrubbed when the snow caused the closing of the federalgovernment. “We are working with the DOE to reschedule the meeting”possibly for sometime within the next two weeks, said Rae McQuade,GISB’s executive director.

“We didn’t know until 10 p.m. [Tuesday] night” that the federalgovernment would be closed the following day, she noted. “We dideverything we could to notify people” by e-mail of this, she said,but some were already on their way to Washington.

The meeting was scheduled to address whether GISB, whoseprincipal focus has been on developing standards for wholesale gas,should branch out into retail gas, and retail and wholesaleelectricity. This proposed change “could have momentousimplications on the future course of GISB” because it would requirethe standards-setting organization to make the leap intoelectricity, a task force told GISB’s board of directors inNovember.

The GISB task force was formed when the Coalition for UniformBusiness Rules (CUBR), a group of mostly energy marketers, beckonedGISB to develop and maintain retail gas/electric standards. GISBexpanded the scope of the coalition’s request to include thewholesale power market as well. Although retail gas standards “arewithin our scope,” the task force cautioned that the development ofpower standards would require changes in GISB’s certificate andbylaws, as well as the make-up of its board and executivecommittee.

Additionally, the task force said such a move would require ahefty increase in the $875,000 that the group has budgeted for2000. Just to take on the additional task of establishing standardsfor retail gas would require a 43% annual increase of $375,000, itnoted. A 60% ($525,000) increase would be needed to tackle retailstandards for both gas and electricity.

Susan Parker

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