Early election - don`t NOx it until you`ve tried it!

Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (AEPCO), like all utilities, is preparing to enter the new era of open market competition. This preparation necessarily includes a focused evaluation of our approach to the business of producing and selling electricity. Every aspect of day-to-day operations is being placed under the microscope to determine how it can be used to gain an edge on potential competitors, including our environmental compliance strategies. Rethinking environmental compliance becomes particularly important for regulations requiring large commitments of capital dollars for installation of new or additional pollution control technologies. These are dollars that reflect directly on a company`s bottom line -- for AEPCO, impacting the price of electricity paid by our customer-owners. This paper discusses the decision-making process undertaken by AEPCO to determine our strategy for complying with the US Environmental Protection Agency`s (EPA) new nitrogen oxides (NO{sub x}) emissions limitations, promulgated under the authority of the Clean Air Act`s (CAA) Acid Rain Program. It also outlines why AEPCO feels that the choices made will assist the Cooperative in controlling generation costs, as well as provide flexibility to respond to future market changes.