In a gesture of conciliation, the Edison Electric Institute(EEI) yesterday said it will meet with board members of the GasIndustry Standards Board (GISB) within the next few weeks in aneffort to bring more electric utilities and electric-relatedcompanies into the debate over whether retail standards should beestablished for electricity and, if so, by whom.

EEI’s Michael McGrath agreed to the meeting after a handful ofelectric representatives who attended an industry-wide meeting onthe issue Wednesday expressed concern that a gas standards-settinggroup, which currently has little electric representation, might bein charge of creating retail standards for the electric industry.

Some gas members of GISB were hesitant as well about the groupbecoming involved with electric standards, saying they feared thatgas interests might be overlooked in the event GISB assumed thisresponsibility.

GISB “has not yet determined [whether] it would jump into thebriar patch,” said Jim Templeton, who is chairman of a GISB taskforce that is exploring the feasibility of this issue. Before GISBcan make the leap into electric standards, he noted the group willneed the broad support of the electric industry and greaterfinancial backing.

Templeton, principal of Houston-based Comprehensive EnergyServices Inc., personally believes a brand new organization shouldbe formed to establish standards for both natural gas andelectricity.

“What we’re talking about is getting a bunch of people” from thegas and electric industries together to “sit down” at a meeting,where “everything would be up for grabs” — meaning a neworganization would be forged, he said.

A new standards-setting group “won’t be GISB as it’s nowconstituted,” but rather would be reshaped to allow for greaterelectric representation, Templeton said. Further, there would be a”balanced” vote between electric and natural gas at the board level”so that nobody’s ox can be gored.”

Templeton’s task force has been charged with the responsibilityof gauging the energy industry’s interest in developing retaile-commerce standards for electric, as well as for natural gas, andwhether GISB is equipped to assume this task. It is expected topresent its findings to the GISB board of directors this summer,which then will decide whether it should further pursue the matter.

The task force was formed in response to a request by theCoalition for Uniform Business Rules (CUBR) last September for GISBto explore developing retail standards for gas and electricity.GISB already has the authority to establish retail gas standards,but standards for electricity are outside of its purview.

When it approached GISB, CUBR envisioned GISB as a “catalyst”that would “bring everybody to the table” to create a newstandards-setting organization, said a representative of ReliantEnergy, which belongs to CUBR. It did not intend for GISB itself toset the standards for electric, he noted.

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