Two separate groups are urging the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to take action on the electric utility merger frenzy and the development of regional independent system operators (ISOs). The American Public Power Association (APPA) and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) have requested that FERC place a two-year moratorium on mergers between and among larger electric utilities.

"We believe that a moratorium on certain mergers, for a relatively brief period of time, is critical before competitive options are eliminated, the public interest is sacrificed, and the future structure of the electric power industry is unfortunately and irreversibly dictated-unregulated monopolies replacing regulated ones," the NRECA and the APPA said in their petition.

The associations propose that the moratorium apply when an acquired or acquiring utility has more than one million electric metered accounts or the proposed merger would result in a utility with more than one million metered accounts.

In the meantime, the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) is urging FERC to initiate a rulemaking to establish large regional ISOs that control and operate the transmission grid consistently with Order No. 888 and No. 889. According to EPSA Policy Director Julie Simon, ISOs have an important role to play in ensuring the development of comparable and nondiscriminatory open access wholesale transmission service and mitigating market power across the country, not just in tight power pools.

Governments Should Rely on Private Sector The G8 Energy Ministerial Business Consultative Meeting in March called on governments to rely on the private sector to provide the energy supplies needed to meet the expected 55% growth in global energy consumption between now and 2020.

Eighty-five representatives of energy companies and institutions throughout the world attended the meeting, which was organized by the World Energy Council (WEC) and held in Moscow.

The Energy Ministerial Business Consultative Meeting also urged reliance on the private sector to improve the access to commercial energy for the 2 billion people, mainly in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, who are currently without it. The growth in energy consumption is expected to be concentrated in the developing countries and met predominantly from fossil fuels.

The major trend of the last decade has been of progressive liberalization in the global energy sector as governments have quit producing energy. Diversity of energy supply in a market-oriented environment should provide adequate security of supply in most circumstances, according to the Meeting. Governments are therefore now free, if they choose, to concentrate on their core responsibilities. Governments should avoid arbitrary intervention in energy markets and end national preference, the G8 Energy Ministerial Business Consultative Meeting urged.

The group passed along these messages to the G8 Energy Ministerial Meeting, which took place April 1 in Moscow.

Asia's Financial Woes Not Affecting Other Markets Asia's financial woes may matter more for project and infrastructure debt than in other sectors given that these financings fueled much of the region's earlier, phenomenal growth and now will play a major role in any recovery, Standard & Poor's reported in its April 7 edition of CreditWeek.

The report discussed the impacts of the Asian financial crisis on infrastructure projects, the trends driving these impacts and the lessons that the crisis presents for Asian infrastructure issuers and project investors going forward.

"The current crisis is the first to hit after extensive placement of infrastructure debt with a wider circle of lenders-both institutions and syndicated lending banks," said William Chew, managing director in Standard & Poor's Infrastructure Finance Group and author of the CreditWeek report. "While the crisis came as a surprise to many of these lenders, their continued participation will be critical, not only for Asian, but for all infrastructure debt."

Despite the focus on Asia's financial troubles, the outlook for many infrastructure projects in emerging market nations is healthy due to the need for basic water and energy services, according to Peter Rigby, director in Standard & Poor's Infrastructure Finance Group.

Rigby noted that investors and issuers involved in such projects could nonetheless learn some important lessons from the Asian financial crisis, such as considering matching the terms of the debt to the life of the project.

"Shorter debt structures often give rise to poor financial results and enhanced default risk," Rigby said. "But amortizing debt structures can eliminate refinancing risk. Potential currency mismatches are also a problem."

EnergyOne Shut Down EnergyOne, the alliance between Kansas City-Missouri based UtiliCorp United and Pennsylvania-based Peco Energy Co., is being shut down and 40 employees in the Kansas City office are being let go. Officials at the companies blame the shut down on the slow pace of deregulation. EnergyOne was put together about one year ago as a provider of electricity, natural gas, long distance service and home security services. UtiliCorp will continue to use the EnergyOne brand for national marketing of its electric and natural gas services.

GEC Alsthom Plans to Purchase Cegelec from Alcatel Alsthom GEC Alsthom has signed an agreement with Alcatel Alsthom to acquire Cegelec's activities worldwide. The transaction is subject to certain conditions, including approval from the relevant regulatory authorities. In line with GEC Alsthom's strategy to strengthen its businesses, the regrouping of GEC Alsthom and Cegelec is expected to create a major world player in systems integration for the energy, transport and industrial markets.

A release from GEC Alsthom stated that Cegelec's core competencies in electrical contracting and systems control will complement its turnkey project activities across the business. Cegelec's energy management business and its overhead lines and catenaries activities will be important strategic additions to GEC Alsthom's existing energy and transport activities, according to GEC Alsthom.