The blizzard that blanketed the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastearlier this week forced the cancellation of a major meeting thatwas called to consider whether the Gas Industry Standards Board(GISB) should expand its reach to develop national standards forthe retail gas market, as well as for the retail and wholesalepower markets.

The meeting, which was to have been attended by about 200energy-related officials, was scheduled for 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 supposed 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 in the make up of its board and executivecommittee.

Additionally, the task force said such a move would require ahefty increase in the group’s budget of $875,000 for 2000. Just totake on the additional task of establishing standards for retailgas would require a 43% annual increase of $375,000, it noted. A60% ($525,000) increase would be needed to tackle retail standardsfor both gas and electricity.

The task force elicited reactions to the CUBR proposal frommajor gas and electricity trade groups. The Interstate Natural GasAssociation of America (INGAA), which raised a number of questions,took a “look-and-see approach,” the task force said. A key INGAAquestion was “if GISB determines to proceed and address retail[energy] marketing, would it be done in one organization or two?”

R. Skip Horvath, president of the Natural Gas SupplyAssociation, was supportive of CUBR’s proposal. Because of theongoing convergence of the two industries, he believes that”merging gas and electric interests, including standards, [is] theway of the future, and we would need champions and funding if wewere to be successful.”

But gas distribution members of the American Gas Association(AGA) didn’t warm to the idea. “Not all responses had beenreceived, but the overwhelming opinion [of AGA members] was thatGISB should not develop standards for retail marketing at thistime,” according to the GISB task force.

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI), which representsinvestor-owned utilities, said it also was developing businesspractices for both gas and retail [power] marketing, but [it was]unsure how far the development would proceed,” the task forcereported. EEI has asked both CUBR and AGA to partner with them inits efforts.

The DOE and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission advocatedGISB’s efforts. Commission staff members said, “while theirinterests are at the federal level, they would have interest in theretail market provided there is a tie to the wholesale market. Theyare sensitive to the states’ concerns and promote anon-Balkanization approach in the development of the retailmarket.”

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