A number of very prominent speakers and PUC Commissioners have agreed to speak at NEM's Annual Membership Meeting and National Restructuring Conference to be held June 20 and 21, 2002 at the Marriott Metro Center in Washington, DC. A quick registration form is hotlinked here for your convenience. An electronic brochure is also hotlinked here.

Please contact NEM headquarters if you are interested in sponsorship or table-top space at the conference, as space will be limited.

NEM will hold meetings with Commissioner Brownell on technology platforms for RTOs and other related technologies within the next few weeks. Proposed dates for the meeting are March 6, 2002, at 1PM EST and March 20, 2002, at 1PM EST. NEM members planning to attend should indicate their preference to headquarters ASAP. NEM's informal discussion with Chairman Wood on what it will take to make markets work will be held May 1, 2002, at 1PM EST. Information on the final dates, times and locations of these meetings will be sent to those members that responded to the previous invitation to participate.

NEM will conduct a legislative briefing conference call and meeting on February 22, 2002, at 10:30AM EST. NEM members with Washington representatives that want to participate in person should contact headquarters by close of business February 19, 2002, so that we can make adequate arrangements for a meeting place. The dial-in number of the conference call is 303-248-1820, and the passcode is 428358.

NEM will conduct the first meeting of its Energy Risk Valuation Management and Financial Accountability Taskforce on February 22, 2002, at 2PM EST. All members and prospective members are encouraged to participate. The dial-in number for the call is 303-248-1820, and the passcode is 428358.

One of the leading suppliers of office equipment and services located in Cologne, Germany is seeking a 50MW barge-mounted generator for a long-term lease. Interested members should contact headquarters ASAP.

FERC has directed Staff to conduct a fact-finding investigation of whether any entity, including Enron, manipulated short-term prices in electric and natural gas markets and whether undue influence was exercised over wholesale prices in the West beginning January 1, 2000, that resulted in potentially unjust and unreasonable rates for long-term power sales contracts. The full text of the Order Directing Staff Investigation is available on the NEM Website. NEM is urging caution. See article entitled, "FERC Investigation of Enron role in Calif. Crisis Gains Steam."

FERC Staff will convene a conference on February 19, 2002, at 9AM to discuss the allocation of RTO characteristics and functions between separate organzations within an RTO region. National, Midwestern, Western and Eastern panels will address the following issues: 1) how should functions/characteristics that are shared between separation organizations in an RTO be apportioned; 2) which functions should be administered over as large a region as possible and which functions can effectively be administerd at a sub-regional level; 3) should functions be distinguished as those that relate to operation and administration of the grid versus those that relate to operation and oversight of markets for trading; and 4) is an organization's business model or incentive structure relevant to which functions it should undertake. The full texts of the Notice of Technical Conference and Attachments are available on the NEM Website.

FERC convened meetings at this week's NARUC conference to solicit state Commissioner comments on FERC's discussion papers on non-discriminatory transmission tariffs and ensuring adequate capacity reserves. The full texts of FERC's Papers on Non-Discriminatory Transmission Tariffs and Ensuring Adequate Capacity Reserves as well as a Summary of the FERC-NARUC Meetings are available on the NEM Website.