State Power Exchange Names Chief Executive

Dennis Loughridge, an executive with a Houston-based independent energy development firm, has been named chief executive of the California Power Exchange, the commodities market for electricity that will go into operation when California’s power market deregulates Jan. 1. S. Donley Ritchey, a former chairman and chief executive of Lucky Stores, was named chairman of the exchange board of governors. As the first permanent manager of the Power Exchange, to be headquartered in Alhambra, Loughridge, 50, replaces interim chief executive S. David Freeman, who recently was named general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Previously, Loughridge was president of BHP Power Inc., an Australian company with offices in Texas that develops overseas energy projects. Freeman remains interim head of the state’s Independent System Operator, the so-called electricity highway or grid system, until a permanent director is found. The Power Exchange and ISO are the linchpins of California’s deregulated energy market and are designed to ensure “transparent” and fair delivery of power to consumers, Loughridge said in a telephone interview.