June 27, 2006

Sen Clodfelter: North Carolina is not Texas

Those two BPL-savvy utilities are among the big IOU's in North Carolina, State Sen Daniel Clodfelter, D-Mecklenburg County, reminded us last week.

          Clodfelter's district covers part of Charlotte -- where Duke Energy did a BPL pilot and utility executives explained the technology to the legislator.

          He's aware of Progress Energy's trial, too.

          Now Clodfelter believes the state's ready for a BPL law and he plans to start the process when the 2007 session begins in January.

          BPL brings added broadband competition and that's good for consumers.

          It inherently brings regulatory concerns such as cross-subsidization, he added.

          We noted that Texas was the first to solve such issues by keeping utilities out of the broadband business, but Texas is a "very different regulatory environment," Clodfelter reminded.

          He expects a lively but constructive debate on how to make a place for BPL.

          Does he have support from others in the legislature?

          That awaits to be seen but he believes support that's been garnered for parallel cable TV deregulation bills moving now through the state's House and Senate could help by spurring support for change.

          Clodfelter's plans got some coverage in the press with a report in the Triangle Business Journal on May 29.

          That report included quotes from BPL celebrity Duke Energy's Greg Wolf plus representatives from Progress Energy and the utility commission.

          Progress is still evaluating the "value" of the technology, said the report (http://tinyurl.com/lxo5v).

          We read the word "value" as "cost" -- considering the surprising sums some utilities have paid for a few BPL boxes -- and believe that more utilities will soon see that metric fall into the green zone.

          For more information on the senator visit the Assembly's website (http://tinyurl.com/f92f8).