APPA: industry has important role in deciding how to calculate ATC

Transcription

APPA: industry has important role in deciding how to calculate ATC
A news summary for members of the American Public Power Association
APPA: industry has important role
in deciding how to calculate ATC
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should rely on the current industry efforts—working through the North
American Electric Reliability Council—to
develop mandatory standards for the calculation of available transfer capacity,
APPA advised the commission. In Aug. 15
comments, APPA agreed with FERC that
greater standardization in the calculation
of ATC and available flowgate capacity
“will enhance system performance and
reduce obstacles to interstate transmission service.”
The commission should support and
rely on the industry efforts (through
NERC) to continuously coordinate the
calculation of transfer capability with
adjacent systems that use the same meth-
odology and with interconnected regions
that may use different methodologies;
and to ensure that these calculations
are transparent to all users of the bulk
power system, APPA said.
The commission should in turn provide clear policy direction to NERC,
the North American Energy Standards
Board and the industry that prompt
completion of the mandatory standards
and corresponding business standards
“is necessary and that certain practices,
such as the withholding of ATC through
undocumented and uncoordinated adjustments to capacity benefit margins
and transmission reserve margins, will
not continue under such new standards,”
(continued on page 5)
Wanapum village on display in Washington
No. 33 August 22, 2005
Ontario will not
refurbish two units
at Pickering n-plant
Ontario Power Generation has decided
not to refurbish two nuclear reactors
at its Pickering A plant, the company’s
president and CEO, Jim Hankinson, said
Aug. 12. Instead, the Canadian utility will
devote its resources to maximizing the
performance of its 10 existing nuclear
units, he said.
“For several months we have studied
the economics of the Pickering A Units
2 and 3 return to service, including
third-party reviews,” said Hankinson.
“We don’t see a sound business case for
returning Units 2 and 3 to service.” Units
4 and 1 are in better physical condition
and are better candidates to bring back
into service, he said.
The decision not to bring back the two
units, which were mothballed in 1997,
“is financially prudent and reflects our
objective of keeping our costs as low as
possible,” Hankinson said.
The decision does not mean the Ontario utility lacks confidence in nuclear
power, he said. Ontario Power Generation “continues to believe strongly that
nuclear power remains an important
element of the province’s electricity
generation mix,” he said. “Nuclear fuel
costs are stable and nuclear reactors
do not contribute to smog or global
warming.” 
Inside
Grant County Public Utility District in Washington is cosponsoring the recreation of an
American Indian village as part of the 200 th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition. A
reproduction of the Wanapum tule (bulrush) mat house village encountered by the explorers
has been placed in Sacajawea State Park, in Pasco, Wash., where the Snake River meets
the Columbia. Photo courtesy of Grant County PUD
2
3
Reliant to pay $460 million
to settle California claims.
Congressmen ask federal
regulators to fill the void
left by PUHCA’s repeal.
2
Public Power Weekly August 22, 2005
Reliant to pay $460M to settle
claims over California energy crisis
Reliant Energy has reached a settlement with FERC staff and other parties
to resolve claims related to the Western
energy crisis of 2000-2001, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman
Joseph Kelliher said Aug. 15.
Reliant has agreed to pay $460 million, which is in addition to approximately $65 million the Houston-based
company has already paid in prior settlements, Kelliher said. Under terms of
the agreement, parties will forego all
claims relating to monetary damages
for Reliant’s sale of electricity during
January 2000 through June 2001. The
settlement, expected to be filed in September, must still be approved by the
commission.
The other parties represented in the
settlement include the attorneys general
in California, Oregon and Washington,
the California Electricity Oversight
Board, Southern California Edison,
Pacific Gas and Electric and San Diego
Gas & Electric.
In addition to a $460 million cash
payment, the agreement calls for Reliant to allow an independent audit of
outages for 12 months following FERC
approval of the agreement, and to continue its “must offer” obligations under
provisions of a 2003 settlement for an
additional two years.
FERC “aims to speed resolution of the
refund proceeding and other administrative matters still pending from the 20002001 energy crisis,” Kelliher said.
Last week’s announcement follows
last month’s announcement of a $1.5
billion settlement between the FERC
staff, other parties and Enron Corp.
The settlements “bring to nearly $6.3
billion the amount of settlements relating to the Western energy crisis that
the commission has either accepted
or helped realize,” Kelliher said. 
Ontario environmentalists sue OPG, U.S.
utilities over pollution from coal-fired plants
Three Canadian environmentalists
have filed suit against Ontario Power
Generation and about a dozen U.S.
power companies, saying air pollution from coal-fired power plants has
har med resident s of Ont ar io. The
plaintiffs have asked an Ontario court
to give their lawsuit class-action status,
and they are demanding some $ 50
billion in damages.
The lawsuit focuses on pollution
from coal-burning power plants in
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan,
Ohio and Kentucky, as well as Ontario,
reported Dow Jones.
A spokesman for Ont ar io Power
Generation said the company “is in
full compliance with the current air
emissions regulations,” according to
the Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto.
The suit alleges that coal-fired power plants caused “premature death,
aggravation of existing cardiac and
respiratory illnesses, loss of lung capacity and lung inflammation, coughing, wheezing and respiratory and eye
irritation, weakened immune system
and increased susceptibility to pulmonary and other infections.”
The suit was f iled June 30 in the
Superior Court of Ontario. The plaintiffs are Elizabeth May, director of the
Sierra Club of Canada, Toronto public
health consultant Kimberly Perrotta,
and York University finance professor
Christopher Robinson.
Perrotta is a former air-quality coordinator for the city of Hamilton,
Ontario, according to the Hamilton
Spectator. The newspaper quoted McMaster University chemistry professor
Brian McCarr y, chair of Clean A ir
Hamilton, as saying that half the air
pollution in southern Ontario blows
(continued on page 3)
Publisher
Jeanne Wickline LaBella
202/467-2948
jlabella@APPAnet.org
Editor
Robert Varela
202/467-2947
rvarela@APPAnet.org
Managing Editor
Jeannine Anderson
202/467-2977
janderson@APPAnet.org
Editorial Assistant
Luke Kozikowski
202/467-2946
lkozikowski@APPAnet.org
Circulation
Kelvin Andrews
202/467-2982
kandrews@APPAnet.org
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.
Phone: 202/467-2900
Fax: 202/467-2910
Public Power Weekly is posted each week
at www.APPAnet.org.
Printed on recyled paper with soy ink
3
Public Power Weekly August 22, 2005
Congressmen want federal and state regulators
to fill the void left by repeal of holding company law
To help offset the repeal of the Public
Utility Holding Company Act, the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission should
issue a generic rule addressing the threat
of holding companies using utility assets
to subsidize other ventures, two senior
House Democrats said. In an Aug. 8 letter
to federal regulators, Reps. John Dingell,
D-Mich., and Edward Markey, D-Mass.,
said that, despite assertions that PUHCA
was outdated, “it is clear from recent and
ongoing accounting, corporate, insurance
and mutual fund scandals, that human
nature has not changed one iota.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s misadventures with enforcement
of PUHCA “carry important lessons for
FERC, and raise questions about the
adequacy of the tools in … the 2005 [Energy Policy] Act to adequately protect
consumers against the kind of abuses that
gave rise to the passage of PUHCA in the
first instance,” Dingell and Markey said.
“Given the history of this industry, we have
reservations about the adequacy of these
tools to prevent a repeat of the past or even
more creative misadventures.”
Ontario lawsuit seeks
$50B from Canadian
and American utilities
(continued from page 2)
into Canada from the United States.
About 40% of the U.S.-generated pollution comes from coal-fired power plants
in the Ohio Valley, he said.
McCarry said Ontario Power Generation’s Nanticoke plant is responsible for
about 20% of locally generated emissions.
The following corporations have subsidiaries named in the complaint, according to Dow Jones: Ontario Power,
DTE Energy, American Electric Power, FirstEnergy Corp., Reliant Energy,
Public Service Enterprise Group, Exelon Corp., Allegheny Energy, Cinergy
Corp., DPL Inc., Constellation Energy,
PPL Corp. and Pepco Holdings Inc. 
Now that PUHCA is gone, Dingell (above)
and Markey worry about “a repeat of the
past or even more creative misadventures.”
The SEC “has a special responsibility
to ensure that, in its administration of
the federal securities laws, it pays special
attention to the prospect of utility holding company malfeasance,” Dingell and
Markey said. That’s because the agency
has argued for years that PUHCA could
be repealed safely because of the SEC’s
full disclosure program and modern accounting practices, they noted. The commission therefore should “greatly increase
the frequency of its review of all utility
holding company filings,” they said.
Dingell and Markey strongly recom-
mended that state utility commissions look
at the need to strengthen their regulation
of utilities “in order to protect against
the risks that may now be possible with
PUHCA’s repeal.” They urged state regulators to pay particular attention to “the
prospect for utility consumers to be placed
at risk as the result of failed utility diversification efforts.” State regulators also
“should be wary of complex utility holding company structures and of affiliated
party transactions within such structures,”
Dingell and Markey said.
The two Democrats also released a Government Accountability Office report that
faulted the SEC’s enforcement of PUHCA.
The SEC’s approvals of mergers of distant
utilities “effectively end enforcement of
the act and encourage the formation of
vast holding companies that the act was
designed to prevent from recurring,”
the GAO report said. The SEC has not
conducted a thorough review of holding
companies that have received exemptions
from PUHCA, the GAO found, even after
the commission belatedly denied Enron’s
questionable applications for exemption. 
New report blames Aug. 14, 2003 blackout on
deregulation; says Energy Policy Act is not enough
Deregulation was the cause of the
Aug. 14, 2003 blackout in the United
States and Canada, says a report by
Power Engineers Supporting Truth.
“The laws of physics were ignored, replaced by a blind conviction that the
laws of economics could provide all
things — including a reliable system,”
the report says.
PEST is a group of engineers formed
by John A. Casazza in September 2003.
Casazza is former director of the Georgia Systems Operation Co. Other members of the organization include George
Loehr, former executive director of the
Northeast Power Coordinating Council,
and Frank Delea, formerly of Consolidated Edison of New York.
The report argues that a shift away
from focus on electric reliability to
short-term profits allowed entities like
Enron to flourish and led to poor decision-making. The Energy Policy Act of
2005 does little to ensure further reliability, and the risk of a blackout is no
lower today, the report says.
But Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman said enactment of the Energ y
Policy Act forces utilities to comply with
reliability standards not in place before
the blackout. “The energy bill signed
by President Bush will greatly assist
our efforts by increasing investment
in infrastructure, improving power
generation and requiring a high standard of reliability,” Bodman said on
Aug. 14, the two-year anniversary of
the blackout. 
4
Public Power Weekly August 22, 2005
Massachusetts agency retires debt from peaking unit
Members of the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co. are celebrating a milestone in the joint action agency’s history: the retiring of
all debt to finance construction of its
Stony Brook Peaking Unit power plant
in Ludlow, Mass.
At a recent meeting of MMWEC’s
membership, Chairman H. Bradford
White ceremoniously “retired” one of
the bonds issued by MMWEC 25 years
ago to finance the peaking unit, a 170MW, oil-fired power plant that is a key
component of the MMWEC power supply. The unit, which started operating
in 1982, is solely owned and operated
by MMWEC.
“This is an important event in the history of MMWEC,” White said. “It shows
that the Massachusetts public power
financing program is working, and that
joint action among the state’s municipal
utilities produces positive results.”
MM W EC issued $ 85.2 million in
tax-exempt revenue bonds in 1980 to
finance construction of the peaking
unit, which provides power to 22 Mas-
MMWEC Chairman H. Bradford White, left,
and Treasurer Ronald C. DeCurzio “retire”
one of the bonds issued in 1980 to finance
construction of the joint action agency’s
Stony Brook Peaking Unit. The ceremony
marks the first-ever retirement of all debt
associated with one of MMWEC’s operating
power supply projects. Photo courtesy of MMWEC
sachusetts municipal utilities that have
contracted with MMWEC to pay the
unit’s costs, including debt service. Since
July 1, when the debt officially was retired, the utilities have been free and
APPA meeting will gather input on OSHA changes
APPA will hold a meeting next month
in Indianapolis to gather input from
public power utilities on changes the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration is proposing on its standards
covering electricity.
The meeting will take place Sunday,
Sept. 18 from 12- 5:30 p.m., before the
start of the planning meeting for the
APPA Engineering and Operations Conference. Its goal is to develop a unified
set of comments from the public power
segment of the electricity industry.
In June, OSHA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking for 29 CFR Parts 1910
and 1926 that covers Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution;
Electrical Protective Equipment. It has
been 34 years since OSHA addressed
many of the rules under these sections of
the Code of Federal Regulations. Changes are
being proposed to update the standards
on: enclosed spaces, flame-resistant clothing, working near energized parts, host
employers and contractors provisions,
training, electrical protective equipment,
grounding for employee protection, work
on underground and overhead installations, and work in substations.
Interested persons unable to attend
the Indianapolis meeting are invited
to let APPA know about any issues they
think should be addressed. Comments
or questions should be directed to James
Strange, APPA engineering services
specialist, at jstrange@appanet.org or
202/467-2989.
Comments are due to OSHA on Oct.
13. The agency is to take the first formal
testimony on the rulemaking Dec. 6.
More information on the September
meeting and the OSHA rulemaking is
posted on APPA’s Web site at www.appanet.org. 
clear of debt service payments for the
unit, which were averaging about $5
million per year
To commemorate the event, MMWEC
burned and shredded specimens of the
original 1980 “peaker bonds” and placed
the remains in tin cans that are being
distributed to the MMWEC members,
power supply project participants and
others who have contributed to the
organization’s success.
Debt associated with two other power
supply projects – the Stony Brook Intermediate Unit and Wyman Unit No.
4 – will be retired in 2008, MMWEC
said. 
Braintree, Mass.,
helps sister utility
after microburst
Three linemen from the Braintree
Electric Light Department in Massachusetts traveled to the public power
community of Hingham, Mass., on Aug.
15 to help workers there recover from
what meteorologists are now calling a
microburst, a rare surge of 60- to 70mile-per-hour winds. According to storm
reports, the microburst occurred during
a three-hour storm on the afternoon of
Sunday, Aug. 14, which dropped more
than five inches of rain throughout
Massachusetts’ South Shore and, at
one point, left all of Hingham’s 10,000
customers without power.
The Braintree employees—Working
Line Foreman Bruce Williams and Linemen Dan Uhlman and Chris Thoener—assisted Hingham linemen until
Aug. 16 with a variety of restoration
efforts. Working independently from
the Hingham crews, the BELD linemen
re-energized high-voltage lines, picked
up downed wires from streets strewn
with debris and repaired individual
house services.
Due to their close proximity, the
Braintree and Hingham utilities have
a history of assisting each other after
storms of this magnitude. 
5
Public Power Weekly August 22, 2005
New studies confirm warming of Earth’s atmosphere
Three new studies, published by Science
magazine in its online edition, Science
Express, have cast doubt on a 15-year-old
study that found that the lowest level of
the Earth’s atmosphere was not warming
and might even be cooling. That 1990
study has been cited by global warming
skeptics to show that the Earth might
not be growing warmer.
The 1990 study, by John R. Christy
and Roy W. Spencer of the University
of Alabama in Huntsville, had analyzed
satellite and weather balloon data, and
concluded that the troposphere was
warming at the rate of 0.09 degrees Centigrade per decade—much more slowly
than had been predicted by computer
models, the Energy Daily reported.
One of the new studies, conducted by
the Department of Energy’s Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory, found
errors in the Christy and Spencer analysis. When the errors are corrected, the
data show the troposphere warming at
a rate of 0.2 degrees Centigrade (0.36
degrees Fahrenheit) per decade, about
twice as fast as had been estimated by
the 1990 study, the Energy Daily said.
“For the first time, the new climate observations and computer models provide
a consistent picture of recent warming
of the Earth’s tropical atmosphere (the
troposphere),” Lawrence Livermore announced Aug. 11.
A second study, by Carl A. Mears and
Frank J. Wentz of Remote Sensing Systems in Santa Rosa, Calif., examined
satellite data collected since 1979 and
found that satellites had drifted in orbit,
changing the timing of the temperature
measurements. The satellites were reporting some nighttime temperatures
as daytime temperatures, which led to
a false cooling trend, the researchers
said.
Christy said the error found by Mears
and Wentz was very small. “Our view
hasn’t changed,” he said.
But Benjamin Santer, lead author of
the Livermore study, said the analysis
of satellite and weather balloon data
in the new studies “strongly suggests
that there is no longer any fundamental discrepancy between modeled and
APPA: rely on industry to refine ATC formula
(continued from page 1)
APPA said.
A proper balance must be struck between standardization across the entire
North American grid and the right of
each transmission provider/asset owner to
establish the physical limits for operation
of its own equipment and to serve its native load and long-term firm transmission
customers as reliably and economically as
possible, APPA said. “That balance in all
likelihood cannot be established except
through the technical debates that will
take place during the NERC standards
development process.”
APPA cautioned that the idea that “each
region ought to have a single agreedupon methodology begs the question as
to what that methodology should be and
what variations should be permitted to
accommodate regional differences.”
APPA said it “is less sanguine that an
industry consensus in support of a reliability standard regarding the calculation of [capacity benefit margin] and
[transmission reserve margins] can be
reached.” The commission needs to clarify the regulatory treatment of capacity
benefit margin, APPA said. Heightened
scrutiny of transmission reserve margin
adjustments to ATC also is appropriate,
the association said.
Capacity benefit margin should be reserved and paid for by the beneficiaries,
not by third party transmission customers
with no access to it, APPA said. It should
be made available “under inclusive, nondiscriminatory multi-party generation
reserve sharing agreements.” In calculating CBM, uncommitted generation on
the transmission provider’s own system
should be considered, APPA said. 
observed temperature trends in the
tropical atmosphere.” The new data
helps “remove a major stumbling block
in our understanding of the nature and
causes of climate change,” he said.
“ W hen people come up w it h extraordinary claims—like the troposphere is cooling—then you demand
ext r aord inar y proof,” Santer told
LiveScience.com. “What’s happening
now is that people around the world are
subjecting these data sets to the scrutiny
they need.”
“Things being debated now are details
about the models,” said Steven Sherwood, an atmospheric physicist at Yale
and the lead author of the third Science
Express study examining satellite and
weather balloon data. “Nobody is debating any more that significant climate
changes are coming.” 
‘For the first time, the
new climate observations
and computer models
provide a consistent
picture,’ said Lawrence
Livermore National Lab.
1947
What’s This
Number?
First year that APPA published industry
statistics for its members.
You Can Count on APPA
6
Public Power Weekly August 22, 2005
Employment
Executive director of electric utility— The
Marquette Board of Light and Power, a municipal electric utility with 104-MW generating capacity, an extensive distribution system
and over 15,000 urban and rural customers,
requires an experienced individual preferably
with an E.E. or M.E. degree and some postgraduate level education in business or finance.
Candidate should be a registered professional
engineer or possess the capability to obtain
such accreditation. Successful applicant will
be responsible for directing all business, production and operational areas of the utility
and will report to an elected board of directors. Qualifications should include at least 10
years of progressively more responsible electric
utility experience, four or more years of which
must have been at a fully responsible senior
management level, including administration,
engineering, production and operations. Applicant should be familiar with FERC, MPSC,
DNR, EPA, DEQ, MISO-Day Two and other
regulatory and/or operating areas pertinent
to the electric utility industry. This requires a
superb public service-minded individual with
excellent communication skills, strong leadership ability, and exceptional personal character. Located in the attractive city of Marquette,
a four-seasons community in Michigan’s Upper
Peninsula, the area has much to offer in the
way of excellent schools, including Northern
Michigan University, a regional medical center,
churches, available housing and year-round
recreational opportunities in one of America’s
most livable cities. We offer an excellent benefit program including vehicle allowance.
Salary is commensurate with qualifications
and experience. Applicants should be aware
that the screening/interviewing process will
be subject to the requirements of Michigan’s
Open Meetings Act. Please reply, including
salary history and salary requirements, to:
Director of Personnel/Employee Relations,
Board of Light and Power, 2200 Wright St.,
Marquette, MI 49855.
Grant County Public Utility District positions—Grant County Public Utility District in
Ephrata, Wash., has the following openings:
Electrical engineer I to IV —Salary: $1,550 to
$3,077 bi-weekly, DOE. Provides engineering
support for the hydroelectric generation facilities. Transmission and substation engineer II to IV
—$1,846 to $3,077 bi-weekly, DOE. Provides
engineering support for hydroelectric generation and fish rearing facilities. Positions open
until filled. For detailed descriptions and to
obtain an application, please visit our Web
site at www.gcpud.org. Send to Grant County
PUD, P.O. Box 878, 30 C St. S.W., Ephrata, WA
98823. Excellent compensation and benefits
package. EOE.
Superintendent of utilities—The city of Fulton, Mo. (population 13,000), is accepting
applications for a superintendent of utilities.
This position directs, plans, supervises and
coordinates all work of the electric distribution and generation, gas, water and sewer departments in a manner that is consistent with
city policies and standards. This will include
supervision of approximately 45 employees
with an annual budget of over $20 million. A
bachelor’s degree is preferred. Significant elec-
trical experience is a mandatory requirement;
experience with other utilities with a municipal
emphasis is desired. The successful candidate
must possess strong leadership characteristics
and be able to communicate effectively. Salary
is open DOQ. Position open until filled. Send
resume, including references, to: Director of
Administration, City of Fulton, P. O. Box 130,
Fulton, MO 65251. EOE.
Superintendent of electric transmission and
distribution—Peru Utilities is seeking qualified applications 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- $75,000, plus a competitive
benefits package. 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. Deadline for submission is Sept. 30, 2005.
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 prior at www.
mid.org or at the MID Human Resources Department, 1231 11th St., Modesto, CA 95354,
209/526-7341.
Senior generation engineer and generation
engineer—City of Farmington, N.M., salary:
$58,397-$79,996 (senior generation engineer);
salary: $ 54,414 - $ 64,478 (generation engineer). Performs engineering duties related
to power plant operation, improvements and
maintenance. Coordinates generation unit
testing and results engineering to ensure plant
performance. Provides technical assistance to
operation and maintenance staffing operating,
maintaining and diagnosing various plant
subsystems, including controls, emissions
monitoring, turbines, generators and related
auxiliary systems. Ensures compliance with
existing federal, state and local laws regarding
environmental and safety issues. Bachelor’s
degree in mechanical engineering or instrument and control engineering required. Five
years experience in power plant engineering
with thorough knowledge of steam combustion turbine and hydroelectric generating
plants and equipment required. The senior
generation engineer position requires seven
years experience and requires registration as
a professional engineer in the state of New
Mexico or with another state that reciprocates
with the state of New Mexico. This is a regular,
full-time position. Position closes Tuesday,
Sept. 6, 2005. For an application, contact the
city of Farmington, Human Resources, 800
Municipal Drive, Farmington, NM 87401,
505/599-1132, e-mail personnel@fmtn.org or
visit our Web site at www.farmington.nm.us.
Equal opportunity employer, M/F.
Senior engineer (air quality) — Position requires strong applied knowledge and experience with state and federal air regulations and
with hands-on regulatory expertise including
permitting, emission calculations, record
keeping, reporting and auditing for compliance with the Clean Air Act. Responsible for
ensuring compliance with environmental laws
and regulations in the operation of power
generation and transmission facilities and in
planning, directing and coordinating projects,
and interpreting environmental laws and rules
as they apply to the system. Requires bachelor’s
degree in engineering, preferably in the environment field or related discipline. Eight
years of related progressive experience with
environmental compliance in electric utility
operations. Knowledge and/or experience in
power generation and transmission construction, operation, and maintenance. Willingness
to travel. Competitive salary and benefits package, including relocation assistance. Submit
resume and salary history to Tri State Generation and Transmission Association., Inc., P.O.
Box 33695, HR ECJ29, Westminster, CO 80233,
or submit online at www.tristategt.org, then
click on Careers. Equal opportunity employermale/female/minority/disabled.
Lineworker—Westfield Gas and Electric is
accepting applications for a lineworker. This
individual is responsible for the installation,
removal, maintenance, repair and documentation of the systems and devices comprising
the department’s electric distribution system.
Minimum entrance requirements include but
are not limited to: qualified lineworker under
MGL c.149 s 129c, formal training under an
approved apprentice line program, Massachusetts class A or B commercial driver’s license.
Excellent written and verbal English communication skills, working knowledge of the safe
practices and procedures utilized maintaining
energized circuits of 23,000 volts and below,
ability to work flexible hours and respond to
emergency events after business hours. An
attractive wage and benefits package is associated with this position. Qualified candidates
are requested to send a resume by Sept. 1,
2005 with cover letter to: Westfield Gas and
Electric, Attn: Operations Department., P.O.
Box 990, Westfield, MA 01086-0990.
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
7
Public Power Weekly August 22, 2005
Employment
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, 209/5267341.
Project development manager—Florida Municipal Power Agency is currently recruiting for a project development manager. This
position performs functions to organize,
manage and control the overall coordination
of multifaceted electric power generation
projects. It also provides technical guidance
and staff supervision to the project development department staff, outside consulting
engineers and outside legal counsel to monitor project progress and conformance with
established plans and specifications. It manages the resolution of engineering design and
construction problems, determines program
objectives and budget requirements. For a
complete job description and to apply please
visit our Web site at w w w.fmpa.com. EOE.
Manager of energ y control—AMP-Ohio, a
service provider and wholesale electric power
supplier for 108 municipal electric systems,
is seeking a manager of energy control. The
position reports to the vice president of energy operations and is responsible for the
overall efficient operations of assigned portions of AMP-Ohio’s energy control center.
This position supervises 11 positions and is
responsible for generation, dispatch, load
forecasting, MISO/PJM hourly analysis and
utilization and member hourly load following.
A four-year engineering- or business-related
degree and five or more years of experience
are required. Must have knowledge of the
electric utility industry. Must demonstrate
the use of independent judgment with little
supervision. A hands-on working knowledge of
interconnection and interchange agreements,
transmission arrangements, the FERC regulatory processes, MISO and PJM operations and
current aspects of the competitive electric
utility environment is required. Must demonstrate excellent supervisory and communication skills. Please send resume, cover letter,
and salary requirements to Jenny Ghent, HR
Generalist, AMP-Ohio, 2600 Airport Drive,
Columbus, OH 43219, or e-mail jghent@ampohio.org, jobs @ amp - ohio.org by Aug. 26,
2005. No phone calls please. EOE.
Electrical line superintendent—Wisconsin
Rapids Water Works and Lighting Commission is seeking an individual to oversee the
installation, operation and maintenance of the
electric line system. Responsibilities include
coordinating the operations, maintenance
and personnel of the electric line system.
Experience in inventory management, work
order processing, supervision, project planning
and safety education necessary. Certification
as a journey electric lineworker and 10 years
of progressively responsible lineworker experience is required. This position reports to
the general manager. Must reside within the
school district of Wisconsin Rapids within
six months of hire and maintain residency
as a condition of employment. Employment
is subject to a comprehensive background
investigation including past drug and alcohol
testing records. The base salary range for this
How to place an ad
position is $60,000 to $67,500, depending on
qualifications, with an excellent benefit package. A completed application and a resume,
including references and a cover letter, are
required. A job description and an application
form are available at Water Works and Lighting Commission, 221 16th St. S., Wisconsin
Rapids, WI 54494, phone: 715/422-9020, or
at our Web site: www.wrwwlc.com. Application
deadline is Sept. 16, 2005. 
Other
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 highspeed access with all major manufacturers.
Call Sabrina Porter at 800/332-1078, ext.
301, or e-mail sporter@ etisoftware.com.
Commu nit y broadba nd customer ca re
a n d b i l l i n g s o l u t i o n — C on ne c t C C B™
f rom Pr ima l S olut ions, Inc. is t he lead i ng c u stomer c a re a nd bi l l i ng solut ion
for municipalities, utilities and plannedcommunity developers who are working to
bring the benef its of broadband to their
communities. Complete and cost-effective,
Connect CCB supports eff icient subscrip tion management, service deployment and
bi l l i ng oper at ion s for telephone, c able
T V and high- speed Internet ser v ices de livered over broadband infr a st r uctures.
Call Sam Gilson at 949/260 -1500 or e-mail
sales@primal.com. 
In Memoriam
James W. Perry, who was chairman of
the Grand River Dam Authority in Vinita,
Okla., in 2002 and again last year, died
on Aug. 9.
In May 1999, the Oklahoma State Senate approved Perry’s nomination to the
GRDA board of directors. From that time,
until his death, he served as the representative of the dam authority’s rural electric
cooperative customers.
During Perry’s leadership in 2002,
GRDA completed an upgrade of its six hydroelectric generating units at Pensacola
Dam. When Perry led the dam authority
again, in 2004, GRDA began several new
initiatives, including the creation of the
authority’s Ecosystems Management and
Homeland Security departments. 
It costs 70 cents per word to place a classified
ad in Public Power Weekly. There is a minimum
charge of $35. Rates are net of commission. The
deadline for classified ads in Public Power Weekly
is every Monday, one week prior to the date of
publication. Display ads also are available.
Ads to be published in Public Power Weekly may be e-mailed to jobs@appanet.org
or submitted via APPA’s Web site: w w w.
APPAnet.org/applications/classifieds.
Ads posted on the Web cost $50 per week and
must be submitted through the Web site.
For more information, call Luke Kozikowski
at 202/467-2946 or e-mail LKozikowski@
appanet.org.
People
Benny Ethridge is the new director
of electric services for the city of Ames,
Iowa. Most recently, Ethridge was general
manager of the Deer Park Cogeneration
Facility near Houston, Texas. He replaces
Merlin Hove, who retired after 38 years
with the city.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has named five people to the Los
Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners: Mary D. Nichols, a former
Clinton administration appointee and
current director of the UCLA Institute
of the Environment; David Nahai, a
member of the Regional Water Quality
Control Board; William Burke, chair of
the South Coast Air Quality Management
District; Nick Patsaouras, president of
electrical engineering company Patsaouras and Associates; and Edith Ramirez,
a partner with the law firm of Quinn
Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges.
The Electric Power Board of Nashville,
Tenn., has elected Justin P. Wilson as
chairman and William Blaufuss as vice
chairman. Wilson is an attorney with
Waller, Landsen, Dortch and Davis. Blaufuss is a retired managing partner of
KPMG Nashville.
Michael Bacich was recently promoted
to business relations manager for Riverside
Public Utilities in California. He previously
served as a business coordinator in the development department and as the principal
account manager for the utility. 
8
Public Power Weekly August 22, 2005
APPA Customer Connections Conference set for Kansas City, Mo.
Kansas City, Mo., is the site for this
year’s Customer Connections Conference, which will be held Oct. 22-26 at
the Hyatt Regency Crown Center. It will
feature a variety of speakers and sessions
on customer services, key accounts, public
communications, marketing, and energy
services. Kansas Municipal Utilities and
Missouri Public Utility Alliance are cohosting the event.
Opening day speakers include E. Leon
Daggett, general manager, Kansas City,
Kan., Board of Public Utilities, and Barry
Moline, executive director of the Florida
Municipal Electric Association.
A general session on Oct. 25 will feature
a panel of Kansas City business customers
discussing their service needs and expectations, as well as how they collaborate with
their local utility to attain mutual goals.
Seventeen concurrent sessions will
feature timely topics, and eight smaller
forums will allow participants to take part
in discussions on a wide range of issues.
The conference registration fee for
APPA members is $545. Pre-conference
seminars vary in price. Single or double
rooms at the hotel are $145 a night. Room
reservations should be made directly with
the Hyatt Regency Crown Center by calling 800/233-1234 or 816/421-1234.
The program and registration forms
are available on APPA’s Web site at www.
appanet.org or by calling 202/4672900. 
American Public Power Association
2301 M St. N.W., Washington, DC 20037-1484
Address Service Requested
NEWSPAPER
USPS 028-120
Kansas City, Mo., is the site of this year’s APPA Customer Connections Conference, to be
held Oct. 22-26. Opening day speakers include Kansas City Board of Public Utilities General
Manager E. Leon Daggett and FMEA Executive Director Barry Moline.
APPA to offer three pre-conference seminars
APPA will offer three pre-conference
seminars prior to the 2005 Customer
Connections Conference. “Developing
Your Key Account Representative” is an
11-hour seminar for key accounts professionals who want to improve customer
relationship skills. The two-day seminar
will be held Oct. 22-23. On Oct. 23, the
full-day seminar “Business Energy Audits:
Helping Your Customers Save Money” will
prepare participants to become trusted
advisers to their business customers by
helping them manage their energy use
and costs. And the half-day seminar, “Using Your Utility Bill to Communicate Effectively with Your Customers” will show
how to use a utility bill to communicate
with customers on a variety of topics.
The conference will also provide an
opportunity for public power executives to work toward their key accounts
certificate. The written examination for
certification will be offered on Wednesday, Oct. 26. 
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