NEM is pleased to announce that PPLSolutions has been nominated to the NEM Executive Committee. PPLSolutions, LLC was formed as a subsidiary of PPL Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, to provide front-, mid- and back-office services in the competitive retail energy market. PPLSolutions will be represented within NEM by Michael R. Toner, Vice President, Operations, Joseph P. Clifford, Director - Sales and Marketing, Thomas W. Lockner, New Market Manager, Dennis R. McGraw C.E.M., Manager Business Development, and Natalie A. Vega, Business Development Manager.

NEM's Winter Executive Planning and Policy Development Meeting for 2005 will be held on January 19-20, 2005. Because several members have expressed concern about making travel arrangements to Newport Beach, California, headquarters has looked into possible alternative locations. Constellation NewEnergy has agreed to host the meeting at their offices in Chicago, in order to provide members with a more central location. Headquarters would like to thank Katie Papadimitriu and Constellation for offering an alternative location. Many warm thanks, also, to Peter Weigand and Ian Carter of Commerce Energy Group for their gracious offer to host this event.

The Agenda will include NEM member priorities for States, Utilities, Issues and Positions for NEM’s advocacy in 2005. Please use the following hotlinks to view NEM's Issues Lists for the following topics: wholesale issues, retail issues and technology issues.

Issues identified by members for consensus include Accelerated Migration Strategies, Consolidated Utility Billing, the Single Retailer Model; the proper timing and structure of retail auctions, and the formation of working groups to develop a national model for accelerated migration strategies.

Member recommendations will be sought on the formation of Nomination, Budget and Recruitment Committees as well as the identification and recruitment of Industry Leaders to serve on the NEM Board of Directors, the Retail Policy Council and the recruitment of selected utilities into the organization to work closely with members to develop a national model for accelerated migration in a equitable, expeditious and reliable manner that engenders consumer confidence and support.

The draft agenda for the event is available on the NEM web site. Please use this hotlink to sign up for the event.

NEM's Annual Spring Membership Meeting and Restructuring Conference will be held at the Marriott Metro Center on April 26-27, 2005. in Washington, DC. Please email or call headquarters if you wish to speak at or sponsor this event. Agenda items should also be sent to headquarters at your earliest convenience. FERC Chairman Patrick Wood, Commisioners Brownell, Kelly and Kelliher in addition to CA Deputy Secretary of Energy Joe Desmond and NYPSC Chairman William Flynn have already confirmed to speak, Governor Schwartzenegger and high-ranking Administration officials have also been invited.

Please use this hotlink to register for the event.

FERC will hold a conference on December 7, 2004 to examine issues surrounding a rulemaking proceeding on market-based rates. The conference will examine issues such as transmission vertical market power and barriers to entry in electric markets. The Commission will also explore the pro forma open access transmission tariff, especially whether it mitigates transmission market power, and other proposals to mitigate market power and barriers to entry. FERC will also hold a two-day conference in January 2005 to discuss additional issues such as affiliate abuse/reciprocal dealing as well as generation market power. The full text of the Notice is available on the NEM web site.

The Commission's Policy Statement on Credit Policy encourages OATT transmission providers, ISOs and RTOs to undertake three actions: 1) to increase the transparency of their credit-related procedures, 2) to publish credit analysis procedures on their web sites, and 3) to explain to customers, in written format, how these procedures are applied to them. FERC also clarified that both quantitative and qualitative factors should be considered when assesing credit risk and listed actions, such as shortening settlement periods, that could reduce the impact of a default by a market participant. The full text of the Press Release is available on the NEM web site.

FERC recently approved a pricing structure for PJM and MISO that would eliminate multiple transmission rate "pancaking" and become effective December 1, 2004. The Commission conditionally accepted the "license plate" rate design, which will be in use for an initial fixed period ending January 31, 2008, at which point the license plate rate design will be re-evaluated. Likewise, to counter a possible abrupt cost shift when the rate design goes into effect, the Commission adopted the Seams Elimination Charge/Cost Adjustments/Assignments (SECA) to be in effect from December 1, 2004 - March 31, 2006. The full text of the Press Release is available on the NEM web site.

In its order, the Commission approved the indices of 10 publishers found to fully or substantially meet the standards outlined in the July 2003 Policy Statement for publishing price indices. Provided that they meet a minimum average criteria for the volume or number of transactions, the hourly, day-ahead, weekly and month-ahead indices published by these developers may be used in jurisdictional tariffs. The full text of the Press Release is available on the NEM web site.

In its Winter Assessment, FERC concluded that the market is behaving in the same manner as other commodity markets under tight conditions. The report came to four major conclusions. First, prices are being driven by concerns about production, despite record storage levels. Some studies show a decrease in production and the most optimistic show this year's production flat with that of last year's. Second, supply and demand conditions are a greater obstacle than any speculative futures trading. According to the Commission, trading has probably had some effect on price volatility, but there is no evidence it has affected sustained price levels. Third, the Commission predicted possible congestion in Northeast infrastructure with severe cold. PJM's expansion as well as the new market software in NYISO should help with this, but has not been proven yet. Finally, the Commission held that higher gas, oil and coal fuel prices will likely lead to an increase in power prices nationally. The full text of the Report is available on the NEM web site.