A state utility commissioner told Cheryl Smith she must have the most exciting job in the world since her firm is at the cusp of huge changes in the utility industry and poised to help facilitate them. That commissioner may be right, but Smith and her Utility.net team have learned a lot in the last few months of negotiations with Americ's big IOUs about what utilities really want. She and her team shared some of those lessons -- including details of how they craft their contracts plus anecdotes, legal concerns and updated strategies -- at BPL Today's Dec 4, 2006 live audio conference, now available on CD.
After months of meetings with federal and state commissioners and IOU execs Smith and her team have critical insight on where BPL stands today -- and where it's going next quarter. One utility lawyer noted that Utility.net's latest contract submittal had fewer changes than some NDAs he's seen. Find out why.
Hear from this panel:
Scott Lee, CEO, IBEC, the hardware vendor that teamed with Utility.net. Hear Lee discuss his firm's grid-friendly coupler built into the Cooper arrestor and its ease of training and installation. The firm is using the fastest chips on the market to send signal long distances. He explains regenerators versus repeaters plus automatic notching that makes 1,567 frequencies available to automatically route packets on an open frequency. IBEC claims to offer the lowest per-customer-passed cost in the industry.
Cheryl Smith, CEO, Utility.net. Hear Smith explain Utility.net's business model as, first and foremost, an owner and operator of a highly cost-effective broadband network based on BPL. Tiers of 768 Kbps, 1.5 mbps and 3 mbps are on the menu and higher if needed. Data, voice and video on demand plus internet access will be served starting in un-served and underserved areas within an investor-owned utility's distribution territory. That generates revenue quickly due to limited or absent competition thus higher than average consumer take rates that let the firm build out a complete BPL network, cost-free and risk-free to the utility. The firm is developing grid reliability and safety applications that use the data delivered by BPL and the firm's network operations center.
Fred Lowther, Senior Partner, Corporate and Finance Group, Dickstein Shapiro. hear Lowther reveal how the Utility.net cost indemnification works, how the firm commits to a risk-free implementation and operation for the IOU. He discusses affiliate transaction rules and how the landlord model works to put money on the IOU's bottom line. Dickstein Shapiro was rated #10 this year on the A List of law firms in the US. Fred heads the energy practice both US and international and is Utility.net's acting general counsel.
Jacob Farber, Counsel, Communications Practice, Dickstein Shapiro. Hear Farber explain what the new FCC ruling on BPL is all about plus network neutrality issues, options under the regulatory classification scheme adopted by the FCC (Title I v Title II classification), the rulings impact on the Utility.net business model such as how to be network neutral and still be an Information services provider. He reports ISP reactions to date. Farber is involved in proceedings before the FCC, state PUCs and the courts on behalf of telecommunications and broadcast clients. He is an expert in the communications field and worked with Utility.net since the firm's inception.
Michael Keselman, CTO, Utility.net. Hear Keselman explain the types of data -- both above and below ground -- that Utility.net's NOC collects, what applications are available now for large power firms with BPL systems, dedicated connectivity capabilities that Utility.net offers to its IOUs -- and what this all means to utilities in terms of improved grid reliability and safety and decreased costs.
