Implementing

Saskatchewan’s government has introduced a plan to increase exploration and development activity by lowering oil and gas royalty and tax structures, implementing a system of volume incentives and reducing corporate capital tax surcharges.

A recommendation in July by an administrative law judge (ALJ) for the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) that the state delay implementing a competitive wholesale market got the endorsement of the ACC chairman in a hearing on the state’s restructuring plan Tuesday.

The Department of Defense (DOD) could potentially reduce demand on the western power grid by generating 90 MW of electricity and implementing conservation initiatives, although the use of DOD assets raises environmental and mission concerns, the General Accounting Office (GAO) recently told Congress. The GAO also said that although significant private back-up generation capacity exists in California its potential use is limited due to business and environmental risks.

The Department of Defense (DOD) could potentially reduce demand on the western power grid by generating 90 MW of electricity and implementing conservation initiatives, although the use of DOD assets raises environmental and mission concerns, the General Accounting Office (GAO) recently told Congress. Meanwhile, the GAO also said that although significant private back-up generation capacity exists in California, its potential use is limited due to business and environmental risks.

Easing restrictions on backup emergency generators and implementing real-time and time-of-use pricing for all customers with electric demands that exceed 200 kW are steps the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) says need to be taken immediately, along with a host of other short-term actions, in order to mitigate the impact of blackouts and reduce the likelihood of a widespread power outage in the West over the next two summers.

A state legislative proposal (SB 278X) emerged late last Friday to start the political process for implementing the governor’s agreement (MOU) with Southern California Edison Co. to return the utility to credit-worthiness in exchange for selling its transmission system to the state and assuring below-market power supplies from the utility’s existing fleet of hydro, nuclear and coal-fired power plants.

A state legislative proposal will be introduced later this week to start the political process for implementing the agreement (MOU) between California’s governor and Southern California Edison Co. to return the utility to credit-worthiness in exchange for selling its transmission system to the state and assuring below-market power supplies from the utility’s existing fleet of hydro, nuclear and coal-fired power plants.

After warning of its possibility Tuesday (see Daily GPI, April 4), Sonat said Wednesday it is implementing a Type 5 OFO, effective with Friday’s gas day, due to excess production upstream of its facilities in Logansport, LA. “The quantities currently flowing into the Logansport facilities have decreased very little and the operational problems [with dehydration equipment] have not been alleviated,” Sonat said in its bulletin board posting. Affecting 25 points in the Logansport Field and another 24 in the Joaquin Field, the OFO calls for receipts exceeding 104% of scheduled quantities to be penalized $15/Dth.

North American utility companies continue to move ahead withe-business plans, despite the recent upheaval in the Internetindustry and the volatility of the energy market, according to astudy by Chartwell, a researcher based in Atlanta.