board forms committee to resolve electric standards issue ... · board forms committee to resolve...

A new committee was fo r med by the GISBB o a rd of Dire c t o rs at its June 8 meeting inHouston in an effort to re s o l ve the issue of re-tail and wholesale electricity standards by theend of the ye a r.

The decision fo l l owed a report by the taskfo rce on electricity standards chaired by JimTempleton, principal of Compre h e n s i ve EnergyS e r v i c e s. The task fo rce re c o m mended that theb o a rd take no action at this time to modifyG I S B ’s governance documents to incorporateelectricity standards but that discussions onthe issue with trade associations, electric utilities and gove r n ment agencies be continu e d .

B o a rd Chairman Stan Horton, chairmanand CEO of Enron Gas Pipeline Gro up, saidthat if the industry decides national electricitys t a n d a rds should be developed, the re s u l twould like ly be the formation of a new o rganization that would handle both electricity and natural ga s.

During discussion, me m b e rs agreed that theelectric industry had reached no consensus asyet about the need for a standards orga n i z a t i o n ,despite the three GISB-sponsored me e t i n g sheld in Washington earlier this year and theex t e n s i ve discussions held with electric industry participants.

B o a rd member Janie Mitcham, vice pre s i d e n t ,fuel and energy manage ment, Reliant Energy,said that some gro up will eve n t u a l ly writeelectricity standards and that GISB, with itsc redibility and well-accepted rules of pro c e d u re ,should take the initiative on its ow n .

The board then took two procedural vo i c evo t e s. The first, to end the electricity effo r ti m me d i a t e ly, was defeated by a wide marg i n .The second, to form a new committee charge d

Board forms committee to resolveelectric standards issue this year

In this issue:

3 Executive Director’s Column

9 Annual meeting hasconvergence theme

10 Final AS2 draft nearscompletion

12 Standards essential, statecommissioners say

with making a re c o m mendation to the boardby the December meeting at the latest, wa se a s i ly ap p roved. Horton, who proposed then ew committee, said the gro up would make a“ fa i r ly ag gre s s i ve” effort to seek an industryconsensus on electricity standard s.

N a med to the committee we re: Horton;Templeton; Mitcham; Vi c ky Bailey, pre s i d e n t ,PSI Energy, Cinergy Services Corp.; Bill Boswe l l ,deputy general counsel, Dominion Resourc e s ;Reed Horting, vice president, gas sup p ly andtransportation, PECO Energy Co.; Lee Stewa r t ,p resident, energy transportation services,Southern California Gas Co.; Ron Mucci, seniorvice president, Williams Gas Pipeline; AllanK n o p p, dire c t o r, regulatory affa i rs, Conoco;Hugh Roberts, manager of industry and re g ulatory affa i rs, Marathon; Greg Lander, p resident of technology properties and principal, Cap a c i t y C e n t e r.com and SkippingStone; and Steve Berg s t rom, president andC O O, Dynegy Marketing and Tr a d e .

Sheila Hollis surveys

the energy scene. See

interview, page 14.

Dolores Chezar, KeySpan Energy, speaks atthird industry-wide meeting April 26.

Summer 2000 Vol. 5, No. 2

2 Summer 2000 GISB REVIEW

GISB has been named to the AssociationsAdvance America Honor Roll, a nationalawards competition sponsored by the American Society of Association Executives(ASAE) in Washington.

GISB was honored for its development ofInternet standards for gas transactions andfor its GISB University program of classes.

“GISB’s programs truly embody the spiritof the Associations Advance America cam-paign. It is an honor and an inspiration toshowcase these activities as examples of themany contributions associations are makingto advance American society,” said ASAEPresident Michael S. Olson.

GISB Executive Director Rae McQuadesaid, “We’re honored to receive the ‘honorroll’ designation from ASAE. This award isan example of the growing recognition of

GISB REVIEW is published quar-

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GISB named to ASAE’s AssociationsAdvance America Honor Roll

The Contracts Subcommittee is curre n t lye valuating suggested changes to GISB’s basecontract for the short-term sale and purchaseof natural gas, Cochairs Diane McVicker,principal fuel sup p ly analyst, Salt River Pro j e c t ,and Cary Metz, energy contract administrator,Midland Cogeneration Ve n t u re, said.

McVicker and Metz said that the subcom-mittee requested working papers outliningproposed changes to the contract, and 11have been received to date. A master list incorporating all the proposed changes wascompiled and the subcommittee is evaluatingeach suggestion against the existing contract.

Four of the five industry segments submit-ted one or more wo rking pap e rs, McVi c ker andMetz said, and all five segments have partici-pated in the re v i ew pro c e s s. The subcommitteehas met three times so far; 11 wo rk pap e rsh ave been submitted.

“This is a great opportunity to continuestandardization of our industry’s contractingprocesses,” Metz said. “A little work todaywill provide huge benefits for eve r yone dow nthe road. Since all sections of our industryare actively participating in this process, I’mconfident our final product will be one each

GISB’s accomplishments both within and out-side the energy industry.”

Established in 1920, ASAE is the leadingo rganization in the field of association manage-me n t. Its 25,000 members include executivesof trade associations, individual membershipsocieties, voluntary organizations and othernonprofit associations, as well as those whoprovide products and services to the associa-tion community.

“We’re pleased to be part of ASAE,”McQuade said. “It has provided valuable re s o u rces needed for our board ’s manage me n t .ASAE fills an important role in providing uswith information, since it’s difficult for organizations like ours with small staffs tokeep up to date on all the changes at the federal level that can affect us.”

of us can support.”When the short-term contract revisions

a re completed, McVi c ker and Metz said, thesubcommittee will turn to deve l o p ment of along-term standard contract.

G I S B ’s short-term contract was adopted in1996 and is now used throughout the ga si nd u s t r y. The standard contract is intendedfor interruptible or firm transactions of onemonth or less, but many companies use thecontract for longe r-term deals.

G I S B ’s Annual Plan lists several action itemson contract issues; the short-term contract wa sthe first to be add re s s e d .

E xe c u t i ve Director Rae McQuade noted,“ G I S B ’s office re c e i ves more requests for thebase contract than for any other standard. Ithas been cited several times as a standard thatp rovides significant savings to its users. Clearlyt h e re is a tre mendous interest in the ContractS u b c o m m i t t e e’s activities, since its distributionand participation list exceeds 80 individuals.”

A nyone interested in the subcommittee’swo rk can access its wo rk pap e rs and minu t e son GISB’s home page, www. g i s b. o rg, or send arequest to the GISB office to be added to thes u b c o m m i t t e e’s e-mail distribution list.

Howard Fineman, chief political correspondent for Newsweek, willprovide political intelligence atGISB’s Sixth Annual Meeting. Seestory, page 9.

Panel reviewing proposed changesto base short-term contract

to help increase their understanding of therole of standards in creating a competitivemarketplace and assisted them in establishingtheir own standards programs. We’ve workedmost directly with Canada and Mexico because of their dealings with U.S.corporations, but we’ve also had contactwith, among others, Lithuania, Germany,Great Britain, Australia, China, Russia, Portugal, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Japan and Argentina.

We’ve continued to promote partners h i p swith federal and state gove r n ment agencies asc o nve rgence has increased re g u l a t o rs’ intere s tin the creation of a seamless energy gr i d .

We’ve fo r med alliances with other standard sa s s o c i a t i o n s, Internet organizations and non-e n e rgy businesses such as medical serviceproviders that recognize the remarkable potential of electronic comme rce to transfo r mbusiness-to-business relationships and p romote competition.

Intangible benefitsBesides the obvious direct adva n t ages of

p a r t n e rs h i p s, there are intangible benefits thatI would argue have helped shape GISB andest ablish its re p u t a t i o n .

Our habit of talking and wo rking withe nergy industry participants who are notmembers of GISB has saved us from creativeisolation and the championing of concepts orp rocesses that may seem wo rk able to theiri nventors but will not survive exposure to alarger audience. We have always welcomedc o m ments and participation from anyone i n t e rested in GISB’s wo rk, and we have f re q u e n t ly benefited from this engage me n t .

In a similar way, the partnerships thathave taken us somewhat further afield—forinstance, our work with that Lithuanian delegation and our contacts with non-energycompanies—have helped to ensure that wespend some time out of that “box” that creativity experts say we should exit in orderto do our best thinking. Alliances like thoseI’ve described promote the cross-pollinationof ideas and help remind us that we’re partof a larger world and a far more extensivemarketplace.

If organizations have pers o n a l i t i e s, and Ibelieve they do, then GISB is definitely anext rovert. I don’t mean that we know how tot h row great parties, although we may havedone that on occasion. I’m referring to ouro bvious tendency to talk and wo rk witho t he rs. In fact, it’s not only one of our defin-ing characteristics, it’s a key to our success.

A history of partnershipsG I S B ’s entire history, I think it’s fair to say,

has been defined by the partnerships it hase n t e red into with a wide variety of gro up sand individuals.

Look, for example, at how our orga n i z a t i o ngot its start. A collaboration between FERCand the natural gas industry resulted in anumber of wo rking gro ups that eve n t u a l lycoalesced into a voluntary standards board .But the industry wa s n’t about to begin itsj o u r n ey towa rd electronic comme rce standard se n t i re ly on its own. The Department of Energywas one of GISB’s earliest me m b e rs and sup-p o r t e rs, and it continues to be a va l u ab l es o u rce of help and a re l i able backer of oure f fo r t s. And close cooperation with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers,the Utility Industry Gro up and the FinancialAccounting Standards Board helped to defineG I S B ’s structure .

E a r ly in our history, GISB also reached outto state commissioners by inviting them tojoin our advisory board, as well as fo rg i n gstrong ties to the National Association ofRegulatory Utility Commissioners.

And, of course, there’s the partnership thatre a l ly ensured that GISB’s journey would be asuccess: the unique public-private partners h i pb e t ween our organization and FERC.

How GISB does businessPa r t n e rships continue to be an essential

part of how GISB does business. We’ve established excellent wo rking

relationships with industry trade associationsthat help us understand the needs of theirme m b e rs and ours and—not so incidentally —p rovide a re l i able source of the vo l u n t e e rswho have enabled GISB to produce such arem a rk able body of wo rk .

We’ve consulted with foreign governments

GISB REVIEW Summer 2000 3

EX E C U T I V E DI R E C T O R’S CO LU MN

GISB: An extroverted organization

Rae McQuade, executive director ofGISB

Partnerships

continue to be an

essential part of

how GISB does

business.

continued on page 6


The number of segments into which acombined gas-electric standards orga n i z a-tion would be divided was a key topic ofdiscussion at a GISB-facilitated industrymeeting held at Federal Energy RegulatoryCommission (FERC) headquarters in Wa s h-ington April 26.

M a rk Scheel, re p resenting Dynegy,called for an additional segment for suppliers and marketers, even if GISB remains a ga s - o n ly organization. He notedthat the services segment was fo r med as a“catchall” segment to include softwa re ande q u i p ment ve n d o rs as well as marke t e rsand suppliers, mainly because it was unclear how much interest there was fro mthose gro up s.

“ T h e re are enough playe rs on the mar-ke t i n g / s upplier side now that I think they

need to have their own place at the tab l e ,their own segme n t ,” Scheel said.

One organization, two governing bodies?

Larry Brown, re p resenting the EdisonElectric Institute (EEI), suggested an o rganization that would deal separatelywith wholesale gas and retail energy s t a n d a rd s, with separate governing bodies,“and maybe one body on top.” He said thegas industry “has an enormous amount onits plate dealing with the recent FERCo rder and dealing with its issues,” wh i l e“electrics don’t know enough to vote onthe gas side.”

At the technical level, Brown said, “Ithink there should be . . . an open ab i l i t yfor eve r y b o dy to cross over into wh a t e ve r

wo rking level committees they want to beon, no matter what industry.”

Sylvia Munson of Altra said that nomatter how many segments a gas andelectric standards board will have, “I wo u l dexpect that we would have situationswh e re it would not be ap p ropriate for acertain segment to vo t e .”

Munson said, “If the issue being discussed pertains solely to retail gas orwholesale gas or retail electric or wh a t e ve r,then the ap p ropriate segments should havethe ability to vote and the segments thatdo not have a vested interest in that vo t eshould have the ability to not vote andh ave it not be considered as a ‘no’ vote, fo rit to be considered an ab s t e n t i o n .”

Walt DeForest of National Fuel GasD i stribution, a GISB board me m b e r, saidthat ga s - o n ly utilities, electric-only utilitiesand combination utilities should be separates e g ments on the retail side “because of thet e n d e n cy for electric to sway the thinkingof some gas folks from time to time when itc o mes to close calls.”

Bob Cave of the American Public GasAssociation stressed that small companiesneed to have a voice in any new standard so rganization. “You need to be able to listento all participants,” Cave stre s s e d .

S t e ve Ke n n e dy of Georgia Power Co.called governance issues a “chicken andegg” situation, asking, “Do you form then ew gro up and then let the new gro upd ecide are we going to do this or not, ordoes GISB decide are we going to do thisand then form the new gro up ? ”

Scope issuesThe meeting at FERC headquarters wa s

the second industry-wide meeting in Ap r i l .The earlier one, held April 17 at the D ep a r t ment of Energy, concerned thescope of a new electric-gas standards o rga n i z a t i o n .

B rown of EEI ex p ressed concern ab o u td e veloping electric standards that “are n’tf l exible enough for the market to deve l o p.”

But Munson noted that there’s a diffe r-ence between standards and re q u i re -me n t s. “You never see the wo rds ‘mu s t ,’

Washington meetings cover governance, scope for new standards organization

continued on page 5

Former FERC Commissioner JerryLangdon urged the natural gas and electric industries to “keep an open mindand think about what it is that you re a l lywant to accomplish” in determiningwhether an organization is needed to setelectric standards.

Langdon, president of RepublicE n e rgy, opened the third GISB-facilitatedmeeting on electric standards, held April26 at FERC, by contrasting the energyindustry’s last seven years with what canbe expected in the next seven years.

“This industry is going to look verydifferent again seven years from today,”Langdon said. “And as you go forward, Iwould urge you to think real hard abouth ow important it is for you to know wh a tthe rules of the road are, how importantit’s going to be for competition to still besafeguarded as we go forward and howimportant leadership and direction aregoing to be to that process.”

Langdon said the gas and electrici ndustries are facing these questions:

• Is GISB up to the task of extending

leadership to the electric industry?• Whose “economic ox will be gored”

by changes in the status quo?• Can common standards be applied

to both the gas and electric industries,or are they just too different?

• What role, if any, will state re g u l a t o rsplay in the process?

• What will happen to existing reliability councils, industry advocacygroups and industry associations?

Langdon said GISB has “eme rged as avery objective bro ke r, one who was nota dvocating positions and taking positionsbut was basically letting its me m b e rs h i pdecide wh e re it was going to go and howit was going to achieve what it wanted toa c h i e ve .” He added, “The me m b e r- d r i ve nmandates that GISB was able to constructh ave proven themselves to be efficientand have wo rked amazingly well to makethe industry more efficient.”

He praised GISB Executive DirectorRae McQuade for doing “just a masterfuljob of managing a lot of very interestingand disparate economic interests.”

Former FERC commissioner urges‘open mind’ in standards talks


‘ s h a l l ,’ or ‘has to’” in GISB standard s, shes t ressed, although she conceded that FERChas mandated many of GISB’s standard sfor int e rstate pipelines. “We shouldn’t beafraid of standard s,” she said.

Executive Committee Chairman JimBucc i gross of Gro up 8760 said that theres e e med to be an impression on the part ofs o me in the electric industry that “GISBn e ver met a standard it didn’t like .” But hepointed out that “none of the standard swas written by GISB. T h ey we re written byindustry participants in the GISB pro c e s s.”

The meeting participants agreed thatt h e re we re three alternatives related tos c o p e :

1. GISB could continue with its ex i s t i n gscope and consider no changes to its governance docume n t s.

2. GISB could support the creation of an ew organization to develop standards fo r

the wholesale and retail gas markets andthe retail electricity market but not thewholesale electricity marke t .

3. GISB could support the creation of an ew organization to develop standards fo rthe wholesale and retail gas and electricitym a rke t s.

T h e re was also general agre e ment that an ew standards organization should:

• Ta ke no advo c a cy ro l e .• Implement policy, not create policy

t h rough the deve l o p ment of standard s.• Add ress common technology standard-

i z a t i o n i s s u e s.• Maintain close communications with

the North American Electric Reliab i l i t yCouncil (NERC) re ga rding re l i ab i l i t y, sincere l i ability practices and business practicesa re closely linke d .

• Not develop standards re ga rding c o m me rcial issues.

• Leve r age existing wo rk pro d u c t s.

• Ensure that scope and all orga n i z a t i o n a lactivities are membership driven.

• Be open, transparent, inclusive andvo l u n t a r y.

Written comm e n t sIn written comments filed in conjunction

with both April meetings and posted onthe GISB we b s i t e :

• Reliant Energy said the scope of ane n e rgy industry standards board shouldinclude retail and wholesale natural ga sand electricity, and the organization shouldfo l l ow GISB’s organizational structure .

• Alliant Energy said GISB’s gove r n a n c ecannot be “satisfactorily arranged” toprovide balanced re p resentation to setwholesale electric transaction standards anda dvocated the creation of an independ e n to rganization separate from GISB to set re-tail natural gas and electric standard s.

Consensus on principles governing new electricstandards organization reached at industry meeting

continued on page 6

continued from page 4

SEPT. 29, 1999At GISB Board of Dire c t o rs me e t i n g

in San Antonio, Coalition for Unifo r mBusiness Rules (CUBR) asks that GISBexpand its scope to develop standard sfor retail gas and electricity marke t s.B o a rd asks for report to be given at theDec. 2 meeting in Houston.

DEC. 2, 1999

B o a rd told by general counsel thatretail gas standards are within GISB’sscope but development of electricitystandards is not. Board appoints taskforce to make recommendation at theMarch 2 meeting and calls for broad-based meeting of gas and electric industryrepresentatives on the need and supportfor organization to develop electric andgas wholesale and retail standards.

FEB. 14, 2000At GISB-sponsored meeting at Depart-

ment of Energy (DOE) in Washington,

consensus develops in favor of retailstandards for gas and electricity, butthere are only limited comments from gas and electric utilities, and there is little discussion of wholesale electricstandards.

MARCH 2, 2000At regular meeting in Houston, Board

of Directors endorses efforts to determinei n t e rest in expanding GISB’s scope toa dd ress gas and electric wholesale andretail standards and calls for continuationof open meetings. Board also says taskforce should meet with companies andorganizations to determine if resourcesa re ava i l able to undertake ex p a n d e ds t a ndards effort.

APRIL 17, 2000At second GISB-facilitated meeting at

DOE, consensus is reached on severalprinciples for the development of newstandards organization. Open process,

prohibition on the creation of policy, andclose relationship with the North Ame r i c a nElectric Reliability Council are endorsed.It is agreed that new organization shouldbe open, transparent, inclusive andvo luntary.

APRIL 26, 2000

Third GISB-facilitated meeting, thisone at FERC ’s offices, provides opportunityfor task fo rce me m b e rs to answer questionsabout GISB’s processes. Issues surround-ing timing and next steps in the processare raised.

JUNE 8, 2000

At regular meeting in Houston, boardendorses continuation of fact-finding onn ew organization, appoints new 14-me mber committee charged with makingrecommendation to board by Decemberor before.

Chronology of Electric Standards Discussions

Institute–Coalition for Uniform BusinessRules process but not GISB’s invo l ve me n t ,stating that “as each state takes up theissue of developing retail energy standard s. . . issues will once again be argued basedon what will wo rk best for each state andnot the best compromise position re a c h e dat the national leve l .”

• CMS Energy said there should be nonational standards for the retail gas andelectric marke t s, add i n g, “Even if standard sa re established, no mechanism curre n t lyexists for their adoption in individuals t a t e s.”

• Columbia Gas of Ohio said ex p a n d i n gG I S B ’s scope to include electric standard swould “impair the carefully forged consensus that has permitted GISB to so e f fe c t i ve ly deal with electronic commu n i -cations protocols and related matters” andC o l u m b i a ’s distribution companies could nots upport such a reconstituted orga n i z a t i o n .

• SEMCO Energy Gas Co. said standard s -setting for the retail natural gas and electricindustries should be left to state re g u l a t o r ybodies and legislature s.

Buccigross briefsHouse CommerceCommittee on GISB

Executive Committee Chairman JimB u c c i gro s s, vice president, energy industrypractice, for Group 8760, briefed the staffof the House Committee on Commerce inJune regarding the role and history ofGISB, the GISB standards, and the standards’ potential applicability to theelectric industry.

“At the invitation of the committeestaff, I provided an overview of the GISBstandards process and GISB’s governance;described GISB’s relationship with theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission,which has incorporated most of GISB’sstandards into its regulations; and described GISB’s current efforts to deter-mine if there is energy industry supportfor an organization to develop retail gasand electricity standard s,” Buccigross said.

“I very much appreciated the oppor-tu-nity to discuss GISB’s accomplishmentswith the staff of an important committeeof Congress,” Buccigross continued. “Theinvitation demonstrates the recognitionthat GISB’s key role in the energy industryis achieving. I learned a great deal fromthe briefing, and based on the questionst h ey asked, I trust the Comme rce Committeestaff members did as well.”

“I was very pleased that Jim Buccigrosswas available and willing to provide thebriefing,” said GISB Executive DirectorRae McQuade. “Besides being our currentExecutive Committee chair, Jim haschaired and contributed to a number ofGISB subcommittees and task forces. Heknows the history and accomplishmentsof GISB as well as anyone.”


continued from page 5• PSE&G said that the NERC standard s

d e ve l o p ment process is not “sufficientlyopen [or] fa i r, lacks balance and due pro-c e s s, and a bona fide consensus is oftenabsent” and ex p ressed interest in learningm o re about GISB’s pro c e d u re s.

• Skipping Stone proposed a structurefor a new gas and electricity standardsorganization consisting of five segme n t s —e n e rgy pro d u c e rs, energy transmissionp rov i d e rs, energy distribution companies,e n e rgy end users, and service prov i d e rs —a 25-member board of dire c t o rs and a 35-member exe c u t i ve committee; standard swould re q u i re a 25 and two vote to pass.

• Williams Gas Pipeline said that wh i l eit ge n e r a l ly supports the deve l o p ment ofelectric standard s, a separate orga n i z a t i o nshould be established—the “Electric Industry Standards Board” or the “RetailE n e rgy Standards Board”—that wo u l ds h a re GISB’s best practices but would bea u t o n o m o u s.

• Wisconsin Public Services Corp. saidit supports the Edison Electric


GISB wo rk, as I’ve often said, fre q u e n t lyi nvo l ves dealing with details, and that kindof close-up focus can be isolating, making iteasy to lose sight of the objective. Extro -ve rsion of the sort I’ve described here canbe the perfect antidote to this tendency.

G I S B ’s partnerships have helped us ke e pour eye on the big picture, spurred ourc reativity and kept us open to change .

Partnerships aid GISB

Just a reminder: many GISB productsand documents, including standards andcontracts, are protected by copyright.

GISB General Counsel Jay Costan saidcopyright questions typically arise overthe use of copyrighted GISB material bytrading partners or affiliates of a GISBmember.

The trading partner issue usuallyi nvolves GISB contracts. Costan notedthat when a GISB member enters into acontract with a trading partner who isnot a GISB member, the partner cannotuse the GISB contract for other dealsu nless that partner orders the contractfrom GISB and pays the fee, which is$50 for nonmembers.

The same principle applies to affiliatesof GISB member companies that are not

themselves members of GISB (GISB mem-bership covers only a single entity).Costan stressed that these nonmemberaffiliates must order standards and contracts directly from GISB and paythe nonmember fees.

“ C o pyright protection applies too r i ginal works of authorship, includingthe GISB standards and contracts,”Costan explained. “It is important forme m b e rs to honor the copyrighted s t atus of GISB materials in dealing withtheir affiliates and other nonmembers.GISB has established a user-friendly wayfor nonme m b e rs to use the GISB contractsand standards at a nominal cost.”

A schedule of fees for GISB materialsand an order form can be found onGISB’s website, www.gisb.org.

GISB materials copyrighted, general counsel notes

Skipping Stone proposes 5-segment structure

for new gas, electric standards organization

ANNUAL MEETING REGISTRATION FORMTo register, return this form as soon as possible. Meeting questions contact Veronica Thomason, Gas Industry Standards Board,

1100 Louisiana, Suite 4925, Houston, Texas 77002, 713-356-0060. Checks should be made payable to the Gas Industry Stan-

dards Board.

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Menger Hotel, 204 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, Texas 78205 - 800-345-9285

Booking Number: 5214

Room Rate: $100 single/$110 double before Sept. 1, 2000.

A full roster of regulatory experts willdiscuss “Conve rgence: Making It Wo rk” atGISB’s Sixth Annual Meeting, to be heldSept. 25–26 at the Menger Hotel, San Antonio.

The Menge r, close to the River Walk andother San Antonio attractions, prov i d e sm a ny dive rsions for attendees who bringtheir fa m i l i e s.

Heading the list of confirmed speakers isCommissioner Linda Breathitt of the FederalEnergy Regulatory Commission.

International regulatory experts will include Commissioner Raúl Monteforte ofMexico’s Comisión Reguladora de Energíaand Deborah Eme s, a member of Canada’sN ational Energy Board. Because of GISB’srole in the North American energy market-place, the presentations by Monteforte andEmes are expected to provide key updates onCanadian and Mexican developments.

State regulatory speake rs alre a dy confirme dinclude Bob Rowe, president of the NationalAssociation of Regulatory Utility Commissioners(NARUC) and a member of the Montana Public Service Commission; Pat Wood, chair-man of the Texas Public Utility Commission;Ed Holmes, vice chairman of the KentuckyPublic Service Commission and chair of theNARUC Gas Committee; Ruth Kretschmer, amember of the Illinois Comme rce Commission;and Don Mason, a member of the Ohio Public

Service Commission.All the commissioners on the annu a l

me e ting agenda hold positions of nationalprominence in the areas of natural gas, elec-tricity and telecommunications as well as fill-ing key regulatory roles in their own states.

Also confirmed as an annual meetingspeaker is Catherine Van Way, majority staffcounsel of the House Commerce Committee.Her outlook on electricity restructuring legislation, including H.R. 2944, is expected tobe of particular interest to meeting attendees .

As a special added attraction, HowardFineman, Newsweek’s chief political corre-spondent, will offer his perspective on thisye a r ’s presidential and congressional elections.

The meeting includes a dinner and reception Monday evening, Sept. 25, and agolf tournament Tuesday afternoon.

Early registration is advised for this year’smeeting, which is expected to be heavilyattended. The registration fee is $800 forGISB members and $1,200 for nonmembersuntil Sept. 13. After that date, the fees are$1,000 for members, $1,500 for nonmembers.The government registration fee is $200. Staffmembers of energy trade associations can attend the meeting at the GISB member rate.

To register, fax GISB’s office at (713) 356-0067 or send an e-mail [email protected].

Were you there?

If you were in San Antonio

last year for GISB’s Fifth Annual

Meeting, you heard:

• Representatives of new

organizations involved in retail

standards-setting, including the

Coalition for Uniform Business

Rules, describe their agendas.

• Former FERC Commissioner

Jerry Langdon warn about how

lame-duck administrations put

independent commissions in a

tough spot.

• Robert Gee, assistant secre-

tary for fossil energy at the

D e p a r t ment of Energy, announce

a DOE project to help GISB

ensure the security of natural

gas transactions over the Internet.

• Cybersecurity expert Tom

Cabe say that security, accessi-

bility and performance “don’t

work and play well together.”

• Paul B. Powers, director of

the Office of Electricity and

Environment of the New York

Public Service Commission,

describe “significant” hurdles to

national retail energy standards.

• Raúl Monteforte of Mex i c o ’s

Comisión Reguladora de Energía

say his country isn’t ready yet

to implement communications

standards.

• William Kristol, editor and

publisher of The We e k ly Standard,

say a presidential run by Pat

Buchanan could spell trouble

for George W. Bush.

This year’s meeting promises

to be just as exciting.


GISB’s XML Subcommittee is drafting awhite paper to present to the ExecutiveCommittee at its meeting in San FranciscoAug. 24. This will be the third time inG I S B ’s history that XML (extended mark uplanguage) has been considered for GISBstandards development.

XML is gaining wider acceptance inother industries and was approved for inclusion in the 2000 GISB Annual Planby the Board of Directors.

Subcommittee Chairman Bill Hunsicker,director of electronic commerce for Excel-ergy, said the group has done extensiveresearch on XML technology, including

‘ Convergence: Making It Wo r k ’theme of 6th GISB Annual Meeting

ways in which the standardization efforts ofother industries make use of XML and thecosts and benefits of its use.

“While the report is meant to discuss XMLas an alternative to EDI, it will not re c o m me n dwhat role GISB should play in this technology,”Hunsicker said.

He said it will be up to the ExecutiveCommittee to determine if GISB should pursue XML and, if so, to what extent.

H u n s i c ker told GISB Review that questionsabout the subcommittee and its effortsshould be directed to him by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at(610) 926-7155.

XML Subcommittee drafting whitepaper for Executive Committee

The Executive Committee at its June 15meeting in Seattle ap p roved GISB’s AS2s t a n d a rd s.

AS2 was developed to ensure compati-b i l i t y b e t ween the two leading e-comme rc es t a n d a rds for Internet electronic data i n t e rc h a n ge (EDI), GISB EDM and theI nternet Engineering Task Forc e’s (IETF)EDIINT AS1. The latter standard calledfor the use of http in gas industry EDI,c reating a conflict with the IETF s t a n d a rd .

Also at the June 15 me e t i n g, the E xe c u t i ve Committee ap p roved the useof X12 data sets to handle nominations-related transactions.

The action means that GISB now hasits own American National Standards Institute (ANSI) transaction sets (see related story, page 12).

A transaction set is the data exchangedby parties engaged in EDI that givesmeaning to a particular transaction.


The final draft of GISB’s AS2 standard sis nearing completion, EDM CommitteeCochair Dick Bro o k s, chief technical officer of Gro up 8760, told GISB Review.

B rooks said an updated EDIINT AS2draft will be published in a few we e k sand will be presented at the next me e t i n gof the Internet Engineering Task Forc e(IETF), which will be held in Pittsburg hJu ly 30–August 4. “We hope this will bethe final presentation befo re moving tothe pro p o s e d - s t a n d a rds leve l ,” Bro o k ss a i d .

B rooks said AS2 was developed toa dd ress intero p e r ability issues betwe e nthe two leading e-comme rce standards fo rInternet electronic data interc h a n ge(EDI), GISB EDM and IETF’s EDIINT AS1.The latter standard called for the use ofe-mail, but GISB standards called for theuse of http in gas industry EDI, cre a t i n ga conflict with the IETF standard .

G I S B ’s efforts to re s o l ve this conflictwe re spurred by Pe n n s y l vania re g u l a t o rs,who called for the use of GISB standard sfor its deregulated electricity but wa n t e da solution for the GISB-IETF incompati-b i l i t y. AS2 was created to bridge the gap,B rooks said.

“GISB me m b e rs can be helpful inp romoting the AS2 standard. GettingAS2 accepted as a standard will be ah u ge benefit for us in encouraging theuse of GISB standards at the state leve l

and across the entire trading commu n i t y,including banks, telecommu n i c a t i o n s,gove r n ment, transportation and others,”B rooks said.

S e veral industries, including insurance, health care and automotives e r v i c e s, plan to use the AS2 standard ,underlining the need for Internet s t a n d a rds to wo rk across industries top romote intero p e r ab i l i t y.

Interoperability is one of the action categories in the 2000 GISB Annual Plan.

EDD panel windingup imbalance work

The Expedited Data Deve l o p me n t(EDD) Subcommittee expects to be finished with its wo rk on imbalance netting and trading by the beginning ofS e p t e m b e r, the subcommittee’s chairstold GISB Review.

T h e resa Hess, manage r, GISB standard sand deve l o p ment, Enron Gas PipelineG ro up, and Sylvia Munson, re g u l a t o r ya dviser for Altra Energy Te c h n o l og i e s,said the subcommittee is wrapping upwo rk on eight new data dictionaries andassociated code va l u e s. The final wo rk tobe done for imbalance netting and tradingwill be the associated docume n t a t i o n ,which consists of technical impleme n t a-tion of business process and samplep aper transaction for each of the datas e t s, they said.

The subcommittee’s wo rk product willbe sent to the Technical Subcommitteefor X12 map p i n g, Hess and Munson said,a dding that the EDD Subcommittee willthen turn to the issue of title transfe rt r a c k i n g.

“Our wo rk on imbalance netting andtrading has gone ex t re me ly we l l ,” Hesssaid. “I’m ex t re me ly pleased with ourp rogre s s. We’ve done a lot more than Ithought we could, much more quicklythan I believed possible.”

Munson said, “The participation leve lby subcommittee me m b e rs has been excellent. T h e re has been high attendanceat me e t i n g s, and eve r yone has been ex t re me ly well pre p a re d .”

She added that “imbalance nettingand trading will re q u i re a number of newdata sets, and we need to consider theissue of what electronic form they will beava i l able in firs t .”

F E RC ’s recent issuance of Order 587-L( D o c ket RM96-1-014) underlines the importance of concluding the imbalancenetting and trading effort. The order setsN ov. 1, 2000, as the date by which inter-state pipelines must comply with the re q u i re ment that they permit shippers to offset imbalances on diffe rent contracts held by the shipper and totrade imbalances.

Final AS2 draft nearingcompletion, Brooks says

Dick Brooks

Executive Committee approves AS2 standards, X12 data sets

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I n t e r v i ews with three state public utilityc o m m i s s i o n e rs who will be speaking atG I S B ’s Sixth Annual Meeting in Septemberillustrate the uneven pace at which naturalgas and electricity markets are beingd e regulated across the nation.

Commissioner Don Mason of the OhioPublic Service Commission says naturalgas choice in Ohio has been impleme n t e din the service areas of three utilities:Columbia Gas of Ohio, East Ohio Gas andCincinnati Gas and Electric.

The Columbia Gas program has been themost successful, Mason say s, but he notesthat the outlook for all three programs hasb e c o me somewhat uncertain lately.

“ We’re running into a bit of an anomaly,”Mason say s. “Marke t e rs are getting ve r yn e r vous about signing up custome rs fo rthis coming winter. No one is sure wh e reprices this winter will go, and marke t e rsa re having trouble determining what theirs t r a t e gy will be.”

T h e re’s also uncertainty about wh e t h e rm a rke t e rs who enter Ohio’s electricityc u st o mer choice program when it beginsin Ja nuary will also market natural ga s,Mason say s.

Commissioner Ed Holme s, vice chairmanof the Ke n t u c ky Public Service Commissionand chairman of the National Associationof Regulatory Utility Commissioners( NA RUC) Gas Committee, says the first natural gas pilot program in his state, c overing the service territory of ColumbiaGas of Ke n t u c ky, has just been ap p rove d .He says it’s unclear how many marke t e rswill choose to enter the program. Electricityd e regulation, Holmes say s, is curre n t lybeing studied by a commission task fo rc e .

H o l mes believes the conve rgence of ga s,electricity and telecom markets will eve n-t u a l ly play a “critical” role in the marke tand that state commissions are just begin-ning to consider what their role will be ina conve rged marketplace. NA RUC will be akey forum for such deliberations, he say s.

NA RUC President Bob Rowe, a commis-sioner on the Montana Public ServiceCommission, says his orga n i z a t i o n’s Scienceand Te c h n o l ogy Committee has taken thelead in examining conve rgence issues. T h e

International Committee will also play akey role on conve rgence, Rowe say s, sinced e ve l o p ments in other parts of the wo r l dwill affect how the issue plays out in theU. S.

In Montana, Rowe say s, natural ga sc u s t o mer choice is open to all classes ofc u s t o me rs, but the greatest success hasbeen larger gas users. “In rural are a s, it’s adaunting proposition to market to smallc u s t o me rs,” Rowe notes.

R owe says of the nine gas sup p l i e rs licensed to do business in Montana, onlyt h ree are licensed for residential sales, ando n ly two utilities, MPC, the state’s large s t ,and Energy West, which serves Great Falls,h ave opened their systems to choice. Noresidential or general service custome rsh ave left the MPC system for choice, Rowen o t e s. As for Energy West, which had26,383 custome rs befo re choice, only 1,248c u s t o me rs have signed on with EnergyWest Resourc e s, Energy We s t ’s marke t i n garm, and 48 have gone with Comme rc i a l

A standard created by GISB is now partof ANSI (American National Standards Institute) X12 standard s, used thro u g h o u tthe world for electronic commu n i c a t i o n s.

ANSI was founded in 1918 as the coor-dinator for national standards in the U. S. Itis the U. S. member of such nontreaty inter-national standards organizations as the International Organization for Standard-ization (ISO) and the International Electro -technical Commission (IEC).

Ap p roval of standards by ANSI me a n sthat ap p roval pro c e d u res have fo l l owed theprinciples of openness and due pro c e s sand that a consensus of those dire c t ly andm a t e r i a l ly affected by the standards hasbeen achieved. ANSI ap p roval is consid-e red a highly coveted re c ognition of p e r formance in standards deve l o p me n t .

As part of the accreditation pro c e s s, thes t a n d a rd was also ap p roved by the Data I n t e rc h a n ge Standards Association (DISA),

State commissioners say standards essentialto open gas and electricity markets

E n e rgy of Cut Bank.Electric deregulation has been a fa r

m o re controve rsial issue in Montana, Rowes ay s, because of issues like dive s t i t u re ofassets and stranded costs.

All three commissioners say standard sa re essential to the deve l o p ment of statemarkets. “Standards are absolutelyessential. T h a t ’s a lesson that the telecom-munications and electric industries arelearning based on the GISB ex p e r i e n c e ,”R owe say s. “Markets re q u i re standards tofunction effe c t i ve ly, and GISB’s role is e s s e n t i a l .”

Ke n t u c ky ’s Holmes say s, “I think s t a n d a rds will play an important ro l e .Codes of conduct and standards go hand-in-hand in making sure there’s as level ap l aying field as possible.”

And Mason says standard s, “especiallyif they ’re nationwide, will make it easierfor companies to operate in more than onestate. Hopefully, that will reduce costs andbring more savings to consume rs.”

GISB communications standardgains approval from ANSI

which, among others, serves as secre t a r i a tfor the X12 standard s.

“The acceptance of this standard, nowk n own as Transaction Set 873, CommodityM ove ment Services, has been two ye a rs inthe making,” said Denise Breeden, cochairof GISB’s technical subcommittee and principal systems analyst for El Paso Energy.“This is an important deve l o p ment becausenone of the existing X12 standards was agood fit for the way the gas industry doesb u s i n e s s. The industry now has a standardthat ex a c t ly meets its needs.”

GISB Exe c u t i ve Director Rae McQuadeemphasized, “It’s a very positive step thata GISB communications standard has beenap p roved by ANSI and included as part ofits X12 standard s. In gaining ANSI ap p rova l ,GISB has joined a large community of s t a n d a rds organizations wo rking for cro s s -industry ap p l i c ab i l i t y.”

continued on page 13


Gas-electric conve rgence has helpedt wo companies make the decision to joinGISB this ye a r.

“ We’re very interested in electricity,”said Bill Hebenstreit, vice president, contract services, of El Paso Merc h a n tEnergy Co., a unit of El Paso Energy Corp.“ Without belonging to an orga n i z a t i o nl i ke GISB, it’s hard to determine wh a tother companies are thinking of doing.”

A c t u a l ly, El Paso Merchant Energy isrejoining GISB after a hiatus of seve r a lye a rs. Hebenstreit said that when hisc o m p a ny was focused mainly on gas m a rke t i n g, GISB me m b e rship didn’t seemthat re l e vant. “But now that we’re ge t t i n ginto the powerplant business, as an enduser we have more concern about the impact of standards in our business are a .”

El Paso Merchant Energy, the fa s t e s t -growing of El Pa s o ’s business segme n t s,n ow has 5,000 me gawatts of electric c apacity in operation or under construction.I t ’s also staying active in the gas business,h aving just signed an asset-manage me n tagre e ment with Niagara Mohawk Powe rCo. under which El Paso Merchant Energywill provide compre h e n s i ve gas sup p lyand storage refill manage ment service toN i agara Mohaw k .

H e b e n s t reit clearly plans to be active lyi nvo l ved with GISB, having been elected to

s e r ve as an Exe c u t i ve Committee me m b e rre p resenting the end user segment. “I’mglad to be back,” he told GISB Review.

The decision by Excelergy Corp. tojoin GISB was a natural outgrowth of thecompany’s involvement with organizationslooking into standards for the electric industry such as the Utility IndustryG ro up and the Coalition for Uniform Business Rules, said Bill Hunsicke r, d i rector of electronic comme rc e .

“GISB has long been recognized as aleader in communication standards for thewholesale gas industry, and Excelergy isthrilled to now be a member of this va l u ab l egroup,” Hunsicker said. “Our involvementwith organizations committed to the stan-dardization of communication rules for

She added, “The re c ognition by ANSIand DISA demonstrates the growing matu-rity of the natural gas industry in the useof electronic comme rc e .”

E xe c u t i ve Committee Chairman JimB u c c i gro s s, vice president of energy prac-tice for Gro up 8760, said ANSI’s accep-tance of the standard “shows that GISB’swo rk in developing standards to improvee l e c t ronic comme rce in the natural gas in-dustry is gaining re c ognition and re s p e c toutside the energy commu n i t y.”

This is the first ASC ANSI X12 standardto be developed for natural ga s. GISBwo rked closely with the Ame r i c a nPe t roleum Institute to gain its acceptanceby ANSI.


Convergence helps attract two new GISB members

Bill Hebenstreit Bill Hunsicker

the electric and gas industry made it anatural decision to become a member ofGISB.”

E x c e l e rgy, a provider of business-to-business technology to the retail energyi nd u s t r y, is particularly interested in GISB’sexploration of XML, said Hunsicke r, who isserving as chair of GISB’s XML Subcommit-tee. “Excelergy ’s dedication to the use ofXML, coupled with GISB’s efforts in thisa rena, made it a natural fit to join GISB andhelp in its effort to expand its standard-setting role into this new are a ,” he said.

Excelergy recently unveiled an Internete n e rgy portal, Energy m a rketplace, thatSempra Energy Trading is using to launcha custom energy portal service for itsc u st o me rs.

ANSI accepts standard

GISB Board memberWalt DeForest, National Fuel Gas Distribution, speaks atApril 26 industry-widemeeting on electricstandards, held atFERC.


GISB R e v i ew r e c e n t ly spoke to SheilaH o l l i s, chair of the energy group and partnerin charge of the Washington office of Duane,M o r ris & Heckscher LLP, about convergence,the Internet, and GISB’s future. Hollis has25 years of experience in energy law and is akey player in the restructuring of the gas andelectric industry. Before joining Duane,Morris & Hecksch e r, she was senior partnerof Metzger, Hollis, Gordon & Alprin. She wasthe first director of the Office of Enfo r c e m e n tof the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.She has been an adjunct professor of energyl aw at George Washington University LawS chool since 1979. A past president of theFederal Energy Bar Association, she isi ncoming chair of the American Bar A s s o c i a t i o n ’s Energy and Resources Section.As she has in previous years, Hollis willmoderate several of the panel discussions atG I S B ’s Annual Meeting, to be held Sept.25–26 at the Menger Hotel in San Antonio.

Q: You’ve been an observer of GISBsince the beginning. Has it developed intothe organization you expected?

A: Yes, and beyond. I think it’s hadtremendous impact. It’s one of the fewtimes that I’ve seen an industry reallyachieve so many of the goals it set out toachieve—not all of them, but many.

Q: How can it become stronger?A: I think one way it can be made

s t ro n ger is through a more complete buy-inby a larger number of the players intomore of the process. They’ve committed alot of their time to date, but there are stilla few difficult issues out there that GISBis working away on. I also think that theintegration into the electric side is justsuch a huge issue that that will present aplatform for the additional maturation ofthe organization.

Q: How do you see that working out?Will there end up being an entirely neworganization to handle electric and gasstandards?

A: I think it will be grounded in all thework that’s been done at GISB so success-f u l ly. It may be an entire ly new orga n i z a t i o nin some sense, but I think that thei n c re dible foundation that GISB has putunder it is going to have a lot of long-termeffect, even if there is a new organization.The seeds are already planted, and theyhave sprouted into a significant organization.

Q: How would you structure such anorganization, if it were your decision?

A: Just looking at it from 30,000 feetup, it seems to me you would need bothorganizations under one umbrella for awhile, but you would work on integratingand converging wherever it made senseand was possible. You would look for arbitrage possibilities back and forth,where you could have a common languagefrom both worlds, so that from the stand-point of financial markets and trading,those two worlds could work togethermore closely.

Q: How do you think the talks withthe electric industry are going?

A: It’s complicated, but they seem tobe making some progress.

Q: Will convergence continue at its

current pace, or are there some practicallimits?

A: I think there are practical limits.There will be people who are players inthe gas area who never cross over intoelectric and vice versa, just because of thenature of the organizations themselves. SoI think there are limits on how far it canbe taken, but there are many, many milesto go before we have that delimitationclearly established. I think we’re just inthe frontier area of that, really.

Q: You do a great deal of internationalwork. Is the Internet as important todoing business abroad as it has becomehere?

A: In many cases the use of the Internetabroad is even more extensive than it ish e re. T h e re’s so much scientific wo rk beingdone via the Internet—I’m just using thatas an example of another line of businessa c t i v i t y. I think it’s totally perme a t i n ga renas in which I operate. It’s just assume dthat everything you’re doing is going tobe done by Internet. If you fax or phoneyour business partners, they’re surprisedyou’re not doing it over the Internet—your business, your correspondence, theworks.

Q: What about the pace of convergencein Europe?

A: A ny t i me you have a power ex c h a n gearrangement where you’re using the Inter-net, by its very nature there is a conver-gence because of all the different sourcesof generation into that power ex c h a n ge. SoI think they’re doing a lot of what we’redoing. In some of their restructuring theyhaven’t advanced so far, but Germany hasalmost completely opened up now as faras the competitive markets go. It movedremarkably fast in Germany.

Q & A

GISB’s development surpassedexpectations, Sheila Hollis says

Integration will present

a platform for additional

m a t u r a t i o n .


Q: You don’t envision electric restruc-turing legislation being passed, do you?

A: Not immediately, but there sure isenough excitement out there, particularlywith respect to the reliability issue. Ithink the reliability issue is going to bethe driver of so much of this, includingreliance on natural gas as the sine qua nonfor a stronger grid.

Q: Would GISB or a GISB-like electricorganization have to involve NARUC [National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners]?

A: I think it would have to. NARUChas got to be at the table, or the standardseffort is not going to go where you need itto go. The states are essential. So perhapsthe development of a NARUC committeespecifically oriented to make this happenis the way to go.

Q: Would there be resistance by somestates?

A: I think as the power markets becomemore regionalized and you have RTOs [regional transmission organizations] coming into play, the state agencies willb e c o me more familiar with participating inregional organizations without regulatingthem. It’s a long way to get there, but Ithink, given the thrust of the FERC andthe need in the marketplace for interstatesolutions to reliability and other concerns,it’s something in which states will ulti-mately participate. I’m sure it’s not goingto be a smooth road. I think there’s goingto be a lot of interaction and give-and-take on this.

Q: What will the utility industry looklike in 2010? Will the merger trend con-tinue unchecked, or will there still besome niche players?

A: There will be niche players, but Ithink the standard wisdom is that therewill be five to eight major generationcompanies. Consolidation is going to c o n t i nue quite ag gre s s i ve ly, particularlyif the PUHCA [Public Utility HoldingC o m p a ny Act] issues go away. I think yo u’regoing to see, at least in the utility arena, avastly changed and probably dramaticallyinternationalized set of key players, butthere will always be niche players, and I

Q: Getting back to GISB, what do yousee as the organization’s strengths andweaknesses?

A: I think GISB is poised to grow large rand more influential as it integrates moreinto the electricity marke t s, which are somuch bigger than the gas marke t s. Wi t hthe demand for gas continu a l ly on theuptick, yo u’re going to see a lot moreleaning on GISB to help meet those needsand move the market. And every daythat goes by, the gas market is more and more intertwined with the electricm a rket, since of the [predicted] 30 T c fm a rket, almost all the growth is going tobe for electric generation, and, as theneed for re l i able and pre d i c t able electricitys up p ly escalates, the gas industry mu s tbe demonstrab ly as re l i able and p re d i c t ab l e .

Also, the integration and utilization ofgas storage and gas transportation fa c i l i t i e swith electric transmission, along with thearbitrage between gas transportation andstorage and electric transmission and generation, is incredibly exciting as anopportunity for GISB. It’s going to be atremendous driver of development.

Q: Could this also be a weakness forGISB? Might there be a lack of resourcesto deal with all this?

A: I think that ultimately, in order todo what is expected of GISB, there’s goingto have to be a buy-in by the broader industry. The financial resources to per-form these functions, as well as the humanresources, must flow in from some othersource. You can’t look at the same limitedgroup. It’s got to expand in order for GISBto perform these important functionsahead.

Q: Do you think this will happen?A: I think so, because GISB has proven

itself so successful. It’s the only game intown that shows promise, I think. But I’mprejudiced in my view that GISB’s donesuch a magnificent job.

Q: How do the states get worked into anational electric standards effort?

A: That’s a very provocative question.There’s so much happening on the Hillright now . . .

h ave no doubt that they ’re going to do we l l ,whether they’re specialists in distributedgeneration or Internet-based companies. Ithink there’s going to be room for all ofthem. But as far as big utility structuresare concerned, I think you’re going to seea lot more consolidation in the sectors inwhich they do best. For example, PECOEnergy saw nuclear plant management

and operation as a strength of theirs, andso they’ve acquired more nuclear plants.Other players have seen nuclear as some-thing they don’t want to be in. They don’tfeel like they can make it an efficient andattractive business line and have gottenout of it and gone on to other things.

As for more horizontal integrationamong LDCs and across regions, a lot of itis going to depend on PUHCA reform andthe continuing saga of market monitoring.And I think the role GISB could play inunderstanding markets is essential. I thinkthat’s just going to be a huge opportunityfor GISB.

Q: To conclude, what advice wouldyou give the GISB Board of Directors as it considers what to do about electric standards?

A: They should think globally andthink big and take the successes of thepast and try to use them as a template toseize the additional opportunities thatmay be out there. They should continue todo the great things that they have doneand have the dialogue they’ve had withthe regulators and others that have reallymade the whole thing work. After all,they’ve got the best and the brightest involved in this.

Q & A

NA RUC has got to be at

the table, or the effort is

not going to go where you

need it to go.

board forms committee to resolve electric standards issue ... · board forms committee to resolve...

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