A news summary for members of the American Public Power Association
No. 47 November 28, 2005
Do not assume that real competition exists
in U.S. electric industry, APPA tells task force
Keep an open mind in answering
the question of whether the characteristics of the electric industry can
result in markets that are competitive
to the extent that price regulation is
not necessary, APPA advised an interagency task force on competition. A
notice of inquiry drafted by the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission seems
to assume electricity markets can be
effectively competitive, but the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 simply directed the
interagency task force to “conduct a
study and analysis” of wholesale and
retail competition, APPA noted in its
Nov. 18 comments.
The task force first needs to define
competition, APPA said. Competitive
markets require a significant number
of buyers and sellers, but “in order to
benefit consumers, the choices must be
between suppliers who are engaged in a
real price rivalry, who are ‘price takers’
in a market (and not price manipulators), and who offer goods and services
that reflect the true economic cost to
society, rather than the ‘opportunity
costs’ of oligopolists attempting to exercise market power or practice price
discrimination among customers.”
Examples of actions by firms “that
are inconsistent or contradictory with
the behavior and results in competitive
markets” abound in the trade press,
APPA said. The wave of mergers and
generation purchases provides “evidence
that the basic structure of the industry
is becoming less competitive.” Ever more
complex regulations are being devised to
try to deal with resource adequacy, con-
struction of transmission and reliability.
These problems, along with the California energy crisis, manipulation of price
data and skyrocketing wholesale prices,
“are contrary to what would happen in
competitive markets,” APPA said.
“It is time to ask: Are these problems
simply because a few of the ‘best and
brightest’ academic minds haven’t yet
been able to come up with the correct
‘market design,’ or is it because the basic
characteristics of electric power markets
are such that a large amount of market
power is a natural consequence that cannot be ‘designed away?’” APPA said.
APPA does not agree with the assumption that most industries, including
electricity, are inherently competitive.
“Competitive pressures have a role within the electric power industry, but their
efficacy should not be overestimated or
overstated.”
The characteristics of the electric industry “push the industry far toward the
monopoly end of the monopoly-competition spectrum,” APPA said. “Analysis of
the inherent economic conditions of the
electric power industry shows that there
(continued on page 4)
Inside
Glendale Water & Power in California has installed a new thermal storage device called
the Ice Bear. See story on page 8. Above, Glendale Mayor Rafi Manoukian, left, listens
as an Ice Energy representative explains how the unit works. Photo courtesy of GWP
2
2
3
California sues Sempra
over “Enron games.”
PG&E sues SMUD to try
to stop annexation.
Utilities need options
added to form contract,
attorney says.
2
Public Power Weekly November 28, 2005
California sues Sempra over ‘Enron games’
during Western energy crisis of 2000-2001
Charging that Sempra Energy Trading has shown itself to be “one of the
most expert practioners of the Enron
ethic,” California Attorney General
Bill Lockyer f iled a lawsuit against
the company on Nov. 16 alleging that
the Connecticut-based Sempra affiliate committed fraud on a large scale
during the energ y crisis of 2000 - 01
by manipulating wholesale electricity
prices through widespread playing of
“Enron games.”
The attorney general, who filed the
Enron gaming complaint in Sacramento County Superior Court, said he
expected his office to bring another
lawsuit against Sempra and its affiliates involving the companies’ conduct
in the natural gas market.
“Sempra ranks as one of the worst of
Sempra is “one of the
worst of the bad actors,”
said California Attorney
General Bill Lockyer.
the bad actors who ripped off businesses and consumers during the energy
crisis,” said Lockyer. “Its gaming of
the electricity market was widespread
and egregious.” The company used the
Enron schemes called Death Star, Get
Shorty, Fat Boy and Ricochet more than
5,000 times in California, the attorney
general said.
The Enron gaming complaint alleges
that Sempra Energy Trading submitted false schedules to the California
Independent System Operator to create
the illusion of congestion, then was
paid to relieve the phony congestion.
Among these games was the “Death
Star” scheme. Between January 2000
and June 2001, Sempra engaged in
Death Star transactions involving at
least 205 hours and 9,728 MWh of electricity, according to the complaint.
Sempra “engaged in an array of manipulative and fraudulent schemes
designed to enable them to obtain
‘congestion relief’ payments for taking
actions that did not relieve any congestion, to receive payment for excess
generation through the submission of
false schedules, and to circumvent the
ISO’s price cap by falsely representing
the source of the energ y,” the complaint alleges. 
Publisher
Jeanne Wickline LaBella
202/467-2948
[email protected]
Editor
Robert Varela
202/467-2947
[email protected]
Managing Editor
Jeannine Anderson
202/467-2977
[email protected]
Editorial Assistant
Luke Kozikowski
202/467-2946
[email protected]
Circulation
Kelvin Andrews
202/467-2982
[email protected]
Public Power Weekly (ISSN 0747-3613) is
published weekly except the last week of the
year by the American Public Power Association,
2301 M St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 200371484. Copyright © 2005, American Public
Power Association. Periodical postage paid at
Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Public
Power Weekly, 2301 M St., N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20037-1484. Annual subscription rates:
APPA member utilities, $60 (included in dues);
nonmembers, $440. Extra subscriptions available
to utility and associate members for $100.
PG&E files suit to block SMUD annexation
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has filed suit
against the Sacramento Municipal Utility District in California in an attempt to
stop the municipal utility’s plan to annex
territory in Yolo County now served by
PG&E. The investor-owned utility filed
suit Nov. 10 “complaining that SMUD
has not studied key environmental issues, including plans to build a substation and 15- to 18-mile, high-voltage
line between Elverta and Woodland,”
the Sacramento Bee reported.
PG&E has asked for a court order
halting SMUD’s annexation of three
cities—West Sacramento, Davis and
Woodland—and unincorporated areas
adjacent to the three communities. The
private utility also wants the court to
mandate a detailed study of the annexation proposal, the Bee said.
A coalition backed by PG&E ran fullpage ads this month accusing SMUD of
keeping customers “in the dark” about
annexation, the newspaper said.
That message “is falling on deaf ears,”
said SMUD board President Bill Slaton.
“People understand the track record of
SMUD.” The utility has posted detailed
updates about the annexation plan on
its Web site. 
Phone: 202/467-2900
Fax: 202/467-2910
Public Power Weekly is posted each week
at www.APPAnet.org.
Printed on recycled paper with soy ink
3
Public Power Weekly November 28, 2005
Public power utilities need more options 126 in House ask
for more efficiency,
added to the form contract, expert says renewable energy funds
S A N A N TON IO — Ma ny publ ic
power utilities need additional op tions to the current wholesale power
supply form contract, attorney Bob
McDiarmid of Spiegel & McDiarmid
said at APPA’s Legal Seminar Nov. 14.
The form contract developed by the
Edison Electric Institute is designed
for f inancial trading and does not
accommodate public power utilities
“ interested in real deliver y of real
power,” he said.
The EEI form contract was drafted
after passage of the Energy Policy Act
of 1992 and is based on commodities
contracts, McDiarmid said. The EEI
form contract follows the f inancial
trading model—it is financially firm,
the parties want dollars (more than
power), many transactions never involve physical deliveries, the focus is
on creditworthiness of parties, and
t he remedies for nonper for mance
are financial, he said. Public power
ut ilit ies w a nt t he power purcha se
model—they want the power (more
than the money), they focus on power
resources and they want performance
remedies, he said.
Such revisions need not disturb the
base form contract, McDiarmid said.
Rather, standard optional provisions
cou ld be added to add res s public
power utilities’ concerns and could
be dealt with on the cover sheet of
the form contract, he said. (The EEI
for m cont r act gener a l ly i nclude s
a t able of content s ; general ter ms
and conditions; and a cover sheet on
which amendments can be noted.)
Among the options being considered would be to add a provision to
make failure to deliver grounds for
termination of the contract by one
party, McDiarmid said. The EEI form
contract prov ides for t wo -way payments upon contract termination and
failure to deliver is not considered a
default, he said. That led to Enron’s
claim for termination payments from
the Snohomish County, Wash., Public
Utility District, he noted.
McDiarmid, David Yaffe and Thomas Ingoldsby led a working session
at t he L eg a l S emina r on develop ing additional options to the form
cont ract. The public power g roup
plans to coordinate with EEI and the
National Rural Electric Cooperative
Association, McDiarmid said. 
Electricity prices up sharply, Platts reports
Heading into the 2005 - 06 winter
heating season, electricity prices are
46% higher than a year ago, despite
recent declines, according to Platts.
Average U.S. monthly natural-gas spot
prices for November rose by 4.3% from
October, to $12.42/MMBtu — a level
68.6% above the November 2004 average and the highest average since the
wholesale market was deregulated in
the mid-1980s, the energy information
company said.
Forward electricity prices also are
up dramatically from a year ago and
from the end of the summer, despite
recent declines. The forward price for
power to be delivered in December
was $ 83.21/MWh in early November,
up 35% from the comparable yearago price of $ 61.79/M W h, according to Platts National Forward Power
Assessment.
Increases in forward electricity prices
for the coming winter are even steeper,
Platts said. For instance, prices for
power to be delivered in New England
for January and February 2006 stood
at $179/MWh in early November, more
than double the $ 80/MWh price on
Dec. 30, 2004, and up $47, or 36%,
over the Aug. 26 price of $132. Forward
electricity prices for January and February are also up in all other regions
of the country, Platts said. 
A bipartisan group of 126 members
of Congress—comprising almost 30%
of the U.S. House of Representatives—
wants President Bush to significantly
increase funding for federal energy
efficiency and renewable energy programs in the administration’s budget
request for fiscal year 2007.
In a Nov. 8 letter, the group asked
President Bush to “develop a request
that fully funds the energy efficiency
and renewable energ y programs in
the U.S. Department of Energy and
other federal agencies at the levels
authorized by the Energy Policy Act
of 2005.” The letter was signed by 103
Democrats, 22 Republicans and one
Independent.
The past few months “have starkly
highlighted our nation’s reliance on
v ulnerable energ y resources,” they
said. Energy efficiency and renewable
energ y can have an immediate and
long-lasting effect on energ y availability and prices, they said.
T he Energ y Pol ic y Act of 20 0 5,
signed into law by President Bush in
August, authorizes $ 632 million for
renewable energy programs and $865
million for energy efficiency in fiscal
year 2007, according to the Sustainable
Energy Coalition in Washington, D.C.
That is “substantially more than the
levels likely to be approved for these
programs for f iscal year 2006,” the
coalition said. 
18
What’s This
Number?
The number of titles in the Energy Policy
Act of 2005. Read about the law in the
November-December 2005 issue of Public
Power magazine.
You Can Count on APPA
4
Public Power Weekly November 28, 2005
APPA: don’t assume competition exists in electric industry
(continued from page 1)
are natural as well as artificial impediments to workably competitive markets,
raising the question as to whether price
deregulation is in the public interest.”
The best example of robust wholesale
trading is found within the Western
Electricity Coordination Council (particularly outside the California Independent System Operator), APPA said.
There, long-term resource planning
based on vertical integration provided
the infrastructure to support voluntary
bilateral spot markets for energy trading
among load-serving entities that have
planned for and acquired adequate
generation capacity, APPA said.
The WECC experience shows that the
primary benefit of wholesale trading “is
not derived from short-term economic
exchanges of natural gas-based electric
generation,” and that “the benefits from
‘trading’ are derived from long-run
generation resource decisions,” APPA
said.
to move the electric industry onto a lower-cost supply curve through balanced
portfolios of generation resources used
to supply load-serving entities through
ownership and long-term bilateral contracts,” APPA said.
Day-ahead and real-time markets do
not ensure an economical power supply to retail customers, “because of the
absence of a deep and liquid long-term
market,” APPA said. “RTO market power
mitigation does not address this lack of
structural alternatives.” Public power
utilities report that few sellers are willing
to enter into long-term sales contracts
unless they are indexed to future market
prices, because of uncertainty about
natural gas prices, APPA said. For both
merchants and customers, hedges for
forward price volatility are unavailable
or extremely expensive.
Retail choice hurts long-term contracting by severing the link between
load-ser ving entities and long-term
investment in power supply, APPA said.
The wave of mergers and generation purchases
provides “evidence that the basic structure of the
industry is becoming less competitive.”
Public power utilities have seen some
benefits from the new wholesale markets, particularly in the early period
prior to FERC Order No. 888, APPA
said. However, those benefits have in
many instances been more than offset
by RTO administrative fees, congestion
costs, market power and nonexistent or
dysfunctional long-term markets. None
of the Eastern RTOs with organized
“Day Two” markets have provided significant net benefits to public power
utilities, APPA said.
“In summary, RTOs create incentives
to think short term,” APPA told the task
force. Primary emphasis needs to be
placed “on the infrastructure required
“Merchant generators were supposed
to fill the gap, but Wall Street will no
longer lend money for merchant generation facilities that are not substantially
or fully subscribed through long-term
contract customers or ownership.”
The ability to enter into long-term
contracts is now critical to obtain financing for new infrastructure, even for new
gas generation, APPA said. But public
power utilities report that they are unable in many cases to obtain long-term,
firm transmission rights and that they
are experiencing substantial difficulties hedging the transmission congestion costs associated with their existing
and new generation resources in RTO
regions. Congestion costs have skyrocketed in some organized markets. For
example, the California ISO estimated
that congestion costs in the state increased from $177 million in 2003 to
$482 million in 2004, APPA said.
APPA’s members “are no longer able to
get bids for long-term power at reasonable prices,” the association said. “The
process of obtaining bids is ‘competitive’
in the general sense that a utility may
receive several bids, but the outcome is
not reasonable.” Bids are based on the
market price of power generated from
natural gas, with no discount to reflect
the benefit of locking in a customer for
the long term.
“‘Competitive’ markets, or at least
those markets operated by RTOs, do
a dismal job assuring the adequacy of
generation supply, in large part because
they foster business models that sever
the link between generation and transmission investment and the obligation to
serve retail customers at least cost over a
time horizon sufficient to support new
investment,” APPA said. Competitive
suppliers “have little incentive to maintain adequate reserve capacity.”
The response of RTOs to capacity
adequacy problems has been complex
“initiatives to impose locational installed
capacity charges in an attempt—which
is likely to be futile—to induce generating capacity to be built in locations with
insufficient generation,” APPA said.
“Dollars are spent with little assurance
that real capacity will be procured.”
Resource adequacy should be addressed instead “through the construction of additional transmission facilities
that eliminate the relevant constraints,
reduce the need for such locational
capacity payments, and provide generators in those areas with substantial
competition,” APPA said. “If additional
transmission facilities cannot be constructed, locational capacity payments
to generators should be predicated on
assurances that the dollars paid will in
fact call forth the additional generation
investments required.”
(continued on page 5)
5
Public Power Weekly November 28, 2005
Real price competition is in short
supply in electric industry, APPA says
(continued from page 4)
Incentive rates for new transmission
are unlikely to be effective, APPA said.
Instead, FERC should consider allowing
current recovery of pre-certification
expenses; allow construction-workin-progress to be included in the rate
base; and approve formula transmission
rates, APPA said.
Competitive suppliers
“have little incentive
to maintain adequate
reserve capacity.”
The logical solution to funding transmission investment is to find investors
(such as anyone with a retirement plan)
who want a safe and stable 11% to 12%
return (the current return on transmission projects), APPA said. To help gain
access to those investors, APPA said,
the government should: encourage
transmission-only companies; bring
the full force of competition to bear
on capital costs; and allow municipal
utilities and rural electric cooperatives
to invest in the grid.
“In markets that are competitive in
the economic sense, producers are willing to sell their product at marginal
cost plus a small profit,” APPA told the
task force. “This is not happening in
electricity markets, and the results are
no choices for power purchasers, unreasonable prices for long-term contracts,
and high profit margins for baseload
generators.” 
Seattle begins evaluating its power
supply options for the next 20 years
Seattle Cit y Light has st arted
work on an integrated resource
plan to determine what its portfolio of elect r ic resources may
look like in 20 years. The plan
will analyze the risks and benefits
of new power resources, including conser vation, renewable resources, traditional power plants
and long-ter m power supply
contracts.
“Reducing our risks while providing stable, affordable energ y
to our customers is our goal as
we consider all the options for assembling and distributing power
in the future,” said utility Superintendent Jorge Carrasco.
City Light will not need to acquire large amounts of new power
supplies for the next several years,
as the utility’s existing portfolio of
resources has surplus even under
very dry hydroelectric conditions,
he sa id. T he plan w ill address
st r at eg ie s to keep C it y L ight’s
portfolio of resources cost-effective while avoiding unacceptable
risks.
“Integrated resource plans were
commonplace among Northwest
utilities before momentum toward
dereg ulat ion began to build in
the 1990s,” Seattle City Light said.
“Now that competitive power markets have proven to be less stable
than previously expected, utilities
are again embracing this planning
technique.”
City Light is seeking input from
residents on the plan and expects
to complete it next year. 
Congress unlikely
to pass new energy
bill, key staffer says
Congress is unlikely to pass another
energy bill this year in response to the
damage wrought by Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita and high energy prices, a key Senate staffer said Nov. 10 at an APPA seminar
on the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Instead, lawmakers may try to attach
Bush administration proposals to a Defense Department bill, said Leon Lowery, a member of the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee minority
staff who played a major role in drafting
the electricity title of the Energy Policy
Act of 2002.
Lowery predicted that Congress will
revisit two issues pushed by his boss, Sen.
Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.: a renewable portfolio standard and global climate change.
Bingaman drafted amendments on both
issues but neither ultimately made it into
the Energy Policy Act of 2005. 
Prospects for major
telecommunications
bill are seen as dim
SAN ANTONIO—A consensus exists
in Congress that municipalities, including public power utilities, should not be
prohibited from offering advanced telecommunications services, Nick Miller
of Miller & Van Eaton said at APPA’s
Legal Seminar Nov. 15. However, there
is no consensus in Congress on a broad
bill to reform the telecommunications
industry, he said.
There’s been a lot of noise about telecom reform in the House, but very little
activity in the Senate, Miller said. The
bill floated by the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, which includes
a municipal service provision supported
by APPA, is supported by the Baby Bell
companies—but opposed by everyone
else, Miller said.
Significant telecommunications legislation is unlikely to pass this Congress,
Miller said. 
6
Public Power Weekly November 28, 2005
Employment
Journey-level lineworker—Salary: $32.29 per
hour. Deadline: open until filled. Snohomish
County PUD is located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest and is seeking a journey-level
lineworker. Successful applicants will work as
crew members to construct and maintain underground and overhead distribution systems
utilizing hot sticks. Clean working conditions
and mostly bucket work. Requirements include
certif ied apprentice lineworker program
completion, H.S. diploma or equivalent,
journey-level lineworker’s card or ability to
obtain I.B.E.W. journey-level lineworker’s card
within 30 days of hire, successful completion
of journey-level lineworker testing process,
valid current Washington state commercial
driver’s license (class A), valid CPR/first aid
certificate within three months from hire.
Ability to climb poles and work at heights
in excess of 100 feet, to lift and carry heavy
equipment and materials in excess of 65
pounds, to perform rescue operations, including pole-top and vault rescue, and to work long
hours as storm conditions dictate. Subject to
24-hour call-out for emergency conditions. If
you meet or exceed these qualifications and
are interested, send cover letter and resume
to: Snohomish County PUD, Attn: Employee
Resources, P.O. Box 1107, Everett, WA 98206,
fax 425/783-8675 or e-mail resumes@snopud.
com. Please note: You will only be contacted
if you are being considered for the position. We are an EOE employer (M/F/D/V).
Assistant director of electric utility—Salary:
$ 80,000 to $105,000. Come join the city of
Manassas utility, a leader in BPL communications, delivering broadband Internet services
to residences and businesses. This is an excellent career opportunity for an individual
who is able to direct the electric utility staff
with responsibility in budgeting, planning,
engineering, construction, operations, and
maintenance of substations, transmission
and distribution facilities, ser v ice extensions to new customers, and expansion of
the broadband over power line communications system. In addition, responsibilities
shall include the development of long-range
master planning to meet future needs of the
city to ensure a safe, cost-effective and reliable electric system. Must have B.S. degree
in electrical engineering with a minimum of
10 years progressively responsible management experience within an electric utility.
Experience required in applying engineering
principles and utility practices in developing
designs and operational procedures with
emphasis on employee and public safet y,
and environmental compliance. Experience
with telecommunications systems, including
fiber optics, is preferred. Experience with
operation and system integration of distributed electric generation facilities preferred.
The successful candidate must be creative
and have strong leadership, management,
communication and organizational skills. A
registered professional engineer is preferred.
The city of Manassas is a vibrant and highly
diverse community located in a historically
rich, high-growth area of Northern Virginia,
just 30 miles outside of the nation’s capital.
Manassas is an attractive family-friendly community that offers a wide range of business
and educational opportunities to residents.
The utility was established in 1911 and provides electrical service to more than 15,000
residential, commercial and industrial customers. The utility provides reliable electric
service through a distribution network that
is 80% underground. Apply: Department of
Human Resources, 9027 Center St., Room 302,
Manassas, VA 20110 fax 703/257-5827; e-mail:
[email protected] www.manassascity.org.
Position open until filled. EOE M/F.
Superintendent of electric transmission and
distribution—Peru Utilities is seeking qualified
applicants for the position of superintendent of
electric transmission and distribution. Position
is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the electric division’s transmission,
distribution and fiber-optic facilities. Ideal
candidate would have a four-year technical
degree and 10 years of experience in the operation and maintenance of electrical transmission
and distribution systems, five of which should
have been in a supervisory capacity. Candidates
should feel comfortable working in a management environment that promotes employee
empowerment and responsibility. Peru Utilities
is a progressive, nationally recognized multiple
service utility organization serving 11,000
electric customers, 6,000 water customers and
6,000 wastewater customers in North Central
Indiana. Salary range $48,000 to $75,000, plus a
competitive benefits package. Prior to any offer
of employment, the candidate must submit to
a physical examination and drug test. Persons
interested in this opportunity should submit
their resumes to: Peru Utilities, 335 E. Canal
St., P.O. Box 67, Peru, IN, 46970 ATTN: Brenda
Hobbs, Administrative Assistant. A complete
job description is available on the Peru Utilities
Web site at www.peruutilities.com. Position open
until filled. E.O.E.
Power systems scheduler—Salary: $2,609.60
- $3,340.00, bi-weekly. Interpret and administer purchase power agreements to meet the
district’s and other utility entities’ energy
needs and contractual requirements, perform
system load forecasting and economic analysis,
coordinate and perform electric generation
and water control, and power purchase/sales
to meet system load demands. This position
may involve shift, weekend and holiday work
including the possibility of eight- or 12-hour
rotating and/or relief shifts. Experience: two
years experience in bulk power scheduling
and planning, transaction accounting and/or
power marketing or other related experience.
Applications are available at www.mid.org or at
the MID Human Resources Department, 1231
11th St., Modesto, CA 95354, 209/526-7341.
System planning engineer—Salary range:
$46,482 to $69,723, annually. Ideal candidates
will possess strong organizational, analytical,
interpersonal and communication skills, have
knowledge of electrical transmission and distribution systems, laws and regulations, NESC
and NEC and power quality issues pertaining
to utilities. Successful candidates need a B.S.
in electrical engineering, or the equivalent,
from an ABET institution, and a valid driver’s
license. N.C. P.E. or EIT certificate and Wilson County residency required within one
year of hire. Candidates already possessing
P.E. or EIT certificate are preferred. Open
continuously until filled. A city of Wilson application is required. For an application and
more information, visit w w w.wilsonnc.org
or contact: Human Resources Department,
252/399-2246. Office: 252/399-2313, TDD.
E-mail: [email protected]. A A/EOE. 
A s s i s t a nt m a n a ge r — Hud son L ight a nd
Power Department is conducting a search
for a candidate to fill the position of assistant manager, who will assist the general
manager in the day-to-day operations of the
department. The successful candidate must
have a minimum of B.S. in electrical engineering and will preferably hold a master’s
degree in electrical engineering. Minimum
five years prior experience with an electric
utilit y is preferred. Direct experience in
power resources, transmission and distribution is an
a s s et . Hud s on L i ght a nd
Power Department is an electric utility and operates an
electric system with two 115kV interconnections, 20-MW
gener at i ng pla nt , 70 - M W
load and serving 11,000-plus
cu stomer s. Hud son L ight
a nd Power Depa r t ment is
E.O.E., offering competitive
sa la r y a nd benef it s. S end
resume, including salary history, references, educational
backg round to : G ener a l
Manager, Hudson Light and
Power Department, 49 Forest
Ave., Hudson, MA 01749.
For Sale
FTTP Triple Play Software Solutions—For utilities offering Cable TV and Internet services or
Triple-Play with FTTP. ETI provides software for
customer care, billing, community access and local
ad insertion. ETI provisions television, telephone
and high-speed access with all major manufacturers. Call Sabrina Porter at 800/332-1078 ext. 301,
or e-mail [email protected].
Community broadband customer care and billing solutions—Connect CCB™ from Primal
Solutions, Inc. is the leading customer care and
billing solution for municipalities, utilities and
planned-community developers who are working
to bring the benefits of broadband to their communities. Complete and cost-effective, Connect
CCB supports efficient subscription management,
service deployment and billing operations for
telephone, cable TV and high-speed Internet
services delivered over broadband infrastructures. Call Sam Gilson at 949/260-1500 or e-mail
[email protected]. 
7
Public Power Weekly November 28, 2005
Silicon Valley Power
to sponsor fridge
recycling program
Silicon Valley Power, the municipal
electric utility in Santa Clara, Calif.,
is offering a $35 rebate to customers
who remove an older working refrigerator under the city’s new refrigerator
recycling rebate program. Residents
may recycle up to two units per household.
The program supports the proper
recycling of refrigerator components
and permanently removes these highenergy-usage refrigerators from the
grid, SVP said. The recycling rebate
may be used in conjunction with the
$50 efficiency rebate currently available for the purchase of a new Energy
Star®-qualified refrigerator. The refrigerator/freezers to be recycled must
be in working order and have a capacity
of at least 14 cubic feet.
“This refrigerator recycling program
aims to help our customers rid themselves of those old, energy-wasting refrigerators,” said Joyce Kinnear, public
benefit program manager for Silicon
Valley Power. “If replaced with a new efficient model, customers will surely see
their electric bills drop,” she said. 
California regulators say SMUD annexation
would not hurt other customers of PG&E
If portions of California’s Yolo County
were to get electric service from the
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
rather than Pacific Gas & Electric Co.,
remaining PG&E customers would not
be harmed, the California Public Utilities Commission said Nov. 18.
The commission unanimously adopted a resolution supporting SMUD’s
proposed Yolo annexation. The CPUC
will forward the resolution to the Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo), the lead agency responsible for reviewing the proposed
annexation.
The cities of West Sacramento, Davis and Woodland and neighboring
unincorporated areas asked SMUD to
annex them.
“In their findings that PG&E’s existing customers will not be harmed by
the annexation plan, the CPUC saw
through PG &E’s exaggerations and
mischaracterization of
the facts,” said SMUD
General Counsel Arlen
Orchard. The CPUC decision also “seriously undermines one of the key
arguments in PG &E’s
High energy prices give alternative
energy sources a boost, says S&P
Sky-high oil and gas prices may be creating the best environment
yet for alternative energy companies, Standard & Poor’s Ratings
Services said in an Oct. 11 report, Is Alternative Energy a Viable Alternative in the U.S.?
Alternative energy companies are generally small players whose
markets enjoy less favorable economics than those of traditional
energy producers, S&P said. But the picture is complicated by other
forces that, in the current policy and economic environment, give
these companies an advantage.
“The high price of fossil fuels, concerns over the environment,
the need to diversify America’s sources of energy, improved technologies, and the forces of Corn-Belt politics are combining to
create the best investing environment ever for renewable power,”
said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Terry Pratt. “Therefore we
expect to see a higher volume of alternative energy ratings in the
medium term, provided that regulators, politicians and consumers
continue to support such projects.” 
environmental lawsuit against the Yolo
annexation, which claims PG&E would
suffer serious economic harm as a result
of the annexation,” he said. (See story
on page 2.)
LAFCo is expected to begin holding
meetings on the proposed annexation
in January and issue a decision in May
or June. 
West Sacramento, Davis,
Woodland and nearby
unincorporated areas
asked SMUD to annex
them.
8
Public Power Weekly November 28, 2005
Glendale reduces peak demand with new ice unit
Glendale Water & Power in California is testing a new thermal storage
device, the Ice Bear, which is expected to greatly reduce the demand for
electricit y for the Glendale Sport s
Complex.
The Ice Bear, made by Ice Energy
LLC, is an energy storage device for
air conditioners. The device makes and
stores ice during off-peak hours using
the existing air conditioning system
when electricity is most abundant. The
stored ice is then used the following
day to cool the building during peak
hours, when demand is high.
The installation is one of the first
few in California. It is part of a larger Southern Public Power Authority
project in which a number of other
municipal utilities are working with
Ice Energy to try out other Ice Bear
units at test sites in Anaheim, Azusa,
Burbank, Pasadena, R iverside, Los
Angeles and with the Imperial Irrigation District.
Glendale said it will evaluate the
Ice Bear’s performance to determine
whether additional units would be
useful. The municipal utility expects
the air conditioning unit at the Sports
Complex to reduce its peak demand
by 95%.
“During the peak hours of noon to
6 p.m., the demand for electricity to
provide cooling for commercial and
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residential properties is at its highest,”
said Glendale Water & Power Director
Ignacio Troncoso.
The Ice Bear unit allows the Sports
Complex to take advantage of abundant off-peak power by shifting energy
usage to nighttime hours, the utility
said.
GW P used f unds from it s Power
Partnerships Public Benefit Program
to install the test unit at the sports
complex. 
Ice can be seen around the coils of the Ice
Bear unit.
Pictured with the “Ice Bear” unit are, from left: Al Summerall and Randy Zwetzig, Ice
Energy Co., Ignacio Troncoso, director of Glendale Water & Power, Hector Guiterrez, GWP
business representative, and Scott Hicks, Ice Energy Co. Photos courtesy of Glendale Water & Power
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