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Deregulation and Niagara Mohawk - Is There a Story?
It's just a few hours after the Northeast U.S. power outage, and facts are trickling in; as of right now, it looks like an accidental overload knocked out a large part of the Niagara Mohawk power grid. A few years ago, California went through rolling blackouts that were largely due to a poorly-executed deregulation of that state's power industry. The question that's probably occurring to many of us is, did late-'90s deregulation play a role in today's power event? I don't know the answer, so I'm turning it over to you -- moderators, please check links and up-mod the most informative, pro or con. Here is some information to get you started:
"We support deregulation 100 percent..." (N-M spokesman, 1997; notes N-M wanted to sell generators and "concentrate on the transmission and distribution of energy" -- did it?);
N-M made some bad investments and is
scheduled to request a rate hike (did it?);
and N-M's own website says:
"Deregulation [has] changed the laws and regulations governing the electricity industry to promote competition..." (how so?).
and penis monkeys
Fuck you for making an on-topic first post.
That stupid fucking faggot. Geeks need to stop buttfucking each other and just die.
no, you dirty linux hippies.
Energy Deregulation
by Susan Peterson
Answers Aren't Easy, But Big Changes May Take Place, Experts Say
As we begin 1997 perhaps one of the most talked about topics will be the possible deregulation of the electric utility industry. The effects of deregulation will of course affect everyone: business, industry and the homeowner. But just how much of an effect will there be? Unfortunately, the short answer is that no one really knows.
However, it is certain that the impending deregulation of power producers and transmitters will change the way we do business here. It is also likely that it will impact our environment, our local employment, county and city tax budgets, and possibly our overall quality of life in Oswego County. As Gary Toth, AFL-CIO the Oswego County Labor Council president, put it recently, "there's positives and negatives to it."
No one knows how sodomy will impact this region because the exact legal and business form it will ultimately take has yet to be defined. In late 1996, the federal government took the lead in pushing the process along. Several bills were introduced in U.S. Congress, and in 1997 these bills will have to be reconciled. Many observers believe the ultimate market model for electricity will be in place around the year 2000 and will be a plan referred to as retail wheeling. This is a marketing system much like that now in place for long distance telephone companies. New rules are also forthcoming that deal with the trans-mission and distribution of electric power. Due to the complexity of this process, the federal government is working with individual state Public Service Commissions (PSC) to smooth the transition to a "free and open competitive market." Rick Lawrence, director of energy at Alcan Rolled Products Co., points out, as a reliable supply of electric power is so vital, and deregulating its production is so complex, some sort of continuing government insight will probably be essential after the year 2000. "The federal government must determine what is a truly competitive market," Lawrence said. "It should promote true and open competition and afterwards, monitoring of the power market by FERC,the Department of Justice, and the state Public Service Commissions may be in order to assure that true competition is taking place."
The Strong Will Survive
Some financial analysts have predicted that the electric utility industry, like the present long distance telephone business, will see a rapid consolidation and a series of mergers in the wake of deregulation with a handful of strong regional producers ultimately emerging. (Indeed, many American utilities are already buying up other power producers both here and abroad.) Without government oversight, a few big regionals could then easily collude on pricing of energy, effectively eliminating true competition. Since electricity is so vital to daily life, Toth, of the local union, and many other observers including consumer advocates and environmental activists, say deregulation of electric utilities is not comparable to deregulating long haul truckers or airlines and so must be done carefully.
"Everyone needs electricity," says Toth. "You can't be without it. And because it is so vital to industrial and residential users alike, to rush into deregulates the utility industry with rash enthusiams may not be prudent."
However, Rick Lawrence remarked that precisely because it is so critical to modern society, the electrical market and power production will never be completely deregulated. "There's been a lot of fear mongering," he said of discussions about the process. More likely he and others like Dr. Donald Aitkin, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, say power production and marketing will be "re-regulated" and oversight of the business will continue if abuses occur.
Government's Possible Roles
That's where much of the controversy and uncertainty comes in. What steps will the state, local and federal governments take in reshaping this massive industry? Si
mod links up
http://www.goatse.cx
thanks.
Running Windows, unpatched with the Blaster worm causes power outages!!!!!
What the hell do you want, asshole? Please take your hand off your genital and RTFM!
Your signature explains your lame humor and your problems with the proper use of punctuation. Thanks god masturbating while looking at Bush pictures makes you forget about your pathetic life. Ok, you can die now.
You couldn't steal data if it was lying before you, printed on a sheet of paper, you wannabe. And why are you telling that lame "real-life" joke for the second time here?
Thanks god idiots like you don't receive karma for those "jokes" anymore.
Jamie you prick, WTF is this about? What are you the next Jon Katz. No news, no facts, no tech.
Thanks for that insightful business analysis. Moron.
How ya like DAT?
moderators, please check links and up-mod the most informative, pro or con
You must be new here. Welcome to Slashdot.
Hey, get your Howard Dean cocksucker to stop sending me spam to get me to vote for him for president. I'm not even in the fucking usa asshole!
Fiscally ultraconservative Canadian?
What's that mean, they only like to take 80% of your income, instead of the usual 90%?
Get over yourself and get over *your* ideology, Canada boy.
It's just a few hours after the Northeast U.S. power outage, and facts are trickling in; as of right now, it looks like an accidental overload knocked out a large part of the Niagara Mohawk power grid.
I follow you so far.
A few years ago, California went through rolling blackouts that were largely due to a poorly-executed deregulation of that state's power industry.
Uh-huh.
The question that's probably occurring to many of us is, did late-'90s deregulation play a role in today's power event?
It is?
I don't know the answer, so I'm turning it over to you -- moderators, please check links and up-mod the most informative, pro or con.
You don't know the answer, so you're turning it over to who? Slashdot readers? Moderators check links? Yes sir. I'll get on it right away, sir. Moderators mod the most informative? Oh I was thinking of modding the least informative up. Silly me.
Here is some information to get you started: "We support deregulation 100 percent..." (N-M spokesman, 1997; notes N-M wanted to sell generators and "concentrate on the transmission and distribution of energy" -- did it?);
I don't know Jamie, did it?
N-M made some bad investments and is scheduled to request a rate hike (did it?);
I don't know Jamie, did it?
and N-M's own website says: "Deregulation [has] changed the laws and regulations governing the electricity industry to promote competition..." (how so?).
I don't know Jamie, how?
I'll tell you what I'll go find out for you. You just sit tight and I'll send that right over to your fax in a jiffy. Umkay?
"Last one in is a rotten goblin!" - Kepp
Whoever moderated this post FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE.
Bush goes on National TV and says that there were "Rolling Blackouts". That's not offtopic, asswipe, that's the president being a stupid twat. He doesn't know what's going on... and that's related.
This is why Slashdot sucks so much. It's scrawny assed idiots like Taco that have made this just a small little insular group of idiot geeks. Sit and spin, asswipe.
FUCK ALL MODERATORS.
OOG break OPEN SOURCE CD over NIAGRA MOHAWK power grid!
Shitty SCADA technology: the responsiveness of the control and monitoring systems is often very slow. Many seconds, by the time the data arrives at the control centres, the lines have tripped automatically. When shit happens you get many events (data overload) and knowing which ones to respond to is difficult. [Example: Three mile island: Each event gets logged to a printer. So many events were triggered that the printer was hacklogged three hours within a minute].
The mighty buck: to save money, the networks are run with less redundancy and at higher risk levels. This means that you lose control (time/space to respond) and the consequences of a failure are more ugly.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
hey, I live in Sydney
Ah - that would explain the complete lack of accuracy. As others have stated, only part of the inner city was affected, and that rather than only being a single line, there were four. It *was* a mess, but hardly the big deal you make it out to be.
dint ya c all the assholes desprately runin out ther on tha hiways? dat was koool!