[BETA] Fortnightly

Utility regulators in Minnesota and Nevada have opened dockets on electric utility restructuring, citing (Minnesota) the Energy Policy Act of 1992 as having lifted barriers to wholesale competition, and seeking (Nevada) recommendations on alternative ratemaking.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) said it would view open competition as "one part of a continuum of possible change," from traditional vertical integration to full deregulation. But it added that integrated resource planning and performance-based ratemaking might prove more useful than open competition. The PUC cautioned, however, that the electric industry in Minnesota was healthy (em that few of the factors driving change on the east and west coasts were present in the Midwest. Re Structural & Regulatory Issues in the Elec. Util. Industry, Dkt. No. E-999/

CI-95-135, May 8, 1995 (Minn.P.U.C.).

The Nevada Public Service Commission has asked for comments on alternatives to rate-of-return regulation, in light of possible changes in the electric market on the local, regional, and national levels. It said it may use the information to represent the interests of the state before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in cases involving the "development, transmission, use, or cost of energy in Nevada." Re Investiga. on Regional & Federal Elec. Gen. & Trans. Issues, Dkt. No. 94-6024, Apr. 17, 1995 (Nev.P.S.C.).

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