ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 28, 2003 — International Transmission Company has begun operating as an independently owned, for-profit business, moving electricity from power generating facilities in Michigan and the Midwest to customers in southeastern Michigan.
The new company is the result of divestiture by DTE Energy of its electric transmission assets to comply with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Michigan policy initiatives to promote an independent power transmission grid.
The majority shareholder in the new company is ITC Holdings LP, a Michigan partnership. Company management and employees own a minority interest.
International Transmission currently employs 50 people and expects to double that number within the next 12 months. To accommodate this growth, the company will open a new headquarters building this September in the Orchard Hills Office Park at 8 Mile and Haggerty Roads in Novi. Approximately 25 operational staff members will remain at the Michigan Electric Power Coordination Center, International Transmission’s technical operations facility in Ann Arbor. The company’s executive team, financial, engineering and communications staff will relocate to Novi.
The new company’s executive management team brings more than 140 years of industry experience and includes Joseph Welch, president and chief executive officer; Edward Rahill, vice president – chief financial officer; Richard Schultz, vice president – engineering; Linda Blair, vice president – policy & business development; James Cyrulewski, vice president – operations; Joseph Dudak, vice president – resource and asset management; Larry Bruneel, vice president – federal affairs and John H. Flynn, vice president – general counsel. Most held management positions with DTE Energy prior to joining International Transmission.
“Because the transmission of electricity is our only business, we are intensely focused on investments in infrastructure and engineering solutions that will result in greater efficiency in the flow of electricity, better system reliability and lower overall costs,” said Joseph Welch.
International Transmission’s service territory covers 7,500 square miles in southeastern Michigan. This includes all or parts of 12 counties and metropolitan Detroit, an area with more than 4.5 million people. Its system comprises more than 2,500 pole-miles of overhead and underground high-voltage transmission lines, transmission structures (poles, towers), 39 transmission sub-stations, rights-of-way and easements, and the power coordination center in Ann Arbor.
International Transmission Co. is on the cutting edge of FERC’s “open access” policy, which it issued in 1996 and supplemented in 1999. Open access requires that owners and operators of transmission systems make available their transmission lines to all power generators and qualified customers on comparable, non-discriminatory terms. The intent of the FERC policy is to enhance reliability by increasing financial and physical investment into the transmission system and encourage the entry of new buyers and sellers into power markets.
The State of Michigan, through the Michigan Public Service Commission and the Legislature, have followed FERC’s direction by supporting the transfer of transmission assets to independent entities. Michigan is the first state in which virtually all electric utility customers receive their power from a completely independent transmission system.
For more information, visit www.itctransco.com
