State PUCs
Distributed Generation. California opened a rulemaking proceeding to consider regulatory reforms in electricity distribution service, with a possible focus on distributed...
Public Utilities Reports
PUR Guide 2012 Fully Updated Version
Available NOW!
This comprehensive self-study certification course is designed to teach the novice or pro everything they need to understand and succeed in every phase of the public utilities business.
Gas on the Rise in 1995
The American Gas Association
(A.G.A.) forecasts a 3.4-percent increase in natural gas use for 1995, to 22.5 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) from 21.7 quads in 1994. "Such an increase would continue an eight-year trend that has seen natural gas consumption rise nearly 30 percent since 1986," Michael Baly, A.G.A. president, noted in a presentation to New York securities analysts. Industrial sales (including nonutility generators) should increase 3.2 percent; residential and commercial sales, 3.6 percent; and electric utility sales, 2.6 percent.
In the long term, A.G.A. expects natural gas consumption to account for 26 percent of the nation's total primary energy use by 2010. Gas demand should rise by 4.2 quads, or 19 percent, between 1994 and 2010, with an annualized average of 1.1 percent growth.
The California Public Utilities Commission's (CPUC's) requirement that California utilities buy electricity from qualifying facilities (QFs) at above-market prices is not going down easily. In fact, the decision has stuck in the craw of San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), which has appealed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), charging that the CPUC has violated provisions of the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). Southern California Edison filed a similar appeal with the FERC in January. SDG&E estimates that the CPUC decision, adopted on December 21 as part of its Biennial Resource Planning Update (BRPU), will cost the utility approximately $511 million in higher electricity costs. The SDG&E appeal came one week after the FERC ruled in a case involving Connecticut Light and Power Co. that states may not set rates higher than a utility's avoided cost of purchasing power from QF's (Docket No. EL93-55-000). t
W. Lynn Garner is senior writer of PUBLIC UTILITIES FORTNIGHTLY.
Articles found on this page are available to Internet subscribers only. For more information about obtaining a username and password, please call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-368-5001.
