BH/BA Excels At Energy Analysis And Group Procurement

BH/BA Excels At Energy Analysis
And Group Procurement

Deregulation means savings.

Ready or not, a revolution is brewing in the electric power industry. In less than nine months, electricity purchasers in Pennsylvania will embark upon an adventure where some will lose their way in a new world of price competition.

It's the biggest deregulation in history -- dwarfing the upheaval from new competition in gas and transportation or in the long-distance telephone business.

Fortunately, Buchart-Horn, Inc./BASCO Associates (BH/BA) has the expertise to help clients identify cost-cutting opportunities and avoid pitfalls in this strange new world created by new utility law that begins to take effect on New Year's Day.

Interconnected utility-owned transmission grids constructed to ensure reliability will serve new roles as oversupply and very low prices in some areas prompt users to buy power from distant generating plants. That power shipping, which the power industry calls "wheeling," will hand utilities new business opportunities as they confound power purchasers. Unlike telephone calls that can be routed extreme distances, electric power has limits and much of it can be lost as heat as its moved from generator to user.

As permitted by the new law, buyers are teaming up to buy electric energy as a group. To maximize savings, these consortiums will receive expert help from BH/BA to apply technology and find the best deals.

Buyers will also learn that much of the advice in this new field comes from companies with vested interests in the utility business or from would-be energy brokers who have little more than a desire to become middlemen in this strange new world.

Experts predict a deregulated market will make electricity the most volatile commodity of all. Buyers will also have to make sure the brokers who will try to sell electric power can actually delivery it when it's needed.

Working with the Camp Hill law firm of Zeigler & Zimmerman, P.C., which serves as general counsel to the Central Pennsylvania Energy Utility Consortium (CPEUC) and the Delaware Valley Energy Consortium (DVEC), BH/BA provides engineering consulting services for these two user consortiums.

The CPEUC exerts substantial buying power, as it represents 275 school districts, hospitals, libraries, fire and ambulance companies and municipal authorities. The DVEC is composed of 4 intermediate units, 80 school districts and approximately 200 municipal and other nonprofit entities.

On the clients' behalf, BH/BA scrutinizes potential suppliers of electricity, screening out providers who may not be able to provide the reliable power needed or the prices promised. The firm also collects and analyzes data on usage patterns to identify conservation opportunities and potential savings from alternative power sources. Through these professional services, BH/BA experts will also help energy buyers assemble Requests For Proposals that schools, industries and governments send to potential sellers of power.

While Pennsylvania is one of only three states to deregulate electricity, most other states are expected to follow -- handing savings opportunities to power users nationwide.

In addition to an avalanche of technical information on buying opportunities and distribution services, energy purchasers can also expect a confusing barrage of incentives and irritating sales calls from agents hoping to convince buyers to switch to a certain supplier. Few of us know enough to assess the claims we've heard from telephone marketers following deregulation in that industry.

BH/BA has no vested interest in the utility business. The level of technical expertise available from our firm is not part of the business of the buyers or sellers who will be the major players in this new world of electric competition.

This revolutionary new world of deregulated electricity will amaze and confound most of us. It will irritate others, but one thing is certain -- people who get the right advice have a real opportunity to lower energy bills.