Fortnightly Magazine - November 15 1995

DOD Electric Procurement Causes Industry Schism

A U.S. House-Senate conference committee may remove a provision in present law that requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to buy electricity solely from its local distribution company. The House of Representatives has already voted DOD (300 to 126) the right to buy electricity from the most economical source. A first step toward allowing retail wheeling for military bases, the provision is part of the House fiscal year 1996 Defense Authorization bill.

Byline: 

Lori A. Burkhart

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Penn. Regulators Upheld on Nuclear Decommissioning Costs

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld a Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) ruling permitting Metropolitan Edison Co. to charge current ratepayers approximately $8.3 million a year for a portion of the cost of decommissioning the disabled Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI 2) nuclear generating plant. A lower court found the cost recovery improper because the plant was not and would not be "used and useful" in providing service to customers (see Irwin A. Popowsky v. Penn. PUC, 642 A.2d 648, 153 PUR4th 244 (Pa.Commw.Ct.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
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Regulation or Technology? Low-Income Electric Customers and the Transition to Competition

Twenty-five centuries ago, 300 steadfast Spartans, defending their sacred Greek turf, held up Xerxes's Persian army at the pass at Thermopylae just long enough for the Persians to lose the opportunity to conquer Greece. The world would have been quite different if the Spartans had just "given way."Contemporary state public utility regulators number just about that of those plucky Spartans.

Byline: 
Philip R. O'Connor, Erik B. Jacobson, and Terrence L. Barnich
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SNG Gets Transition Cost Refund

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a comprehensive settlement for Southern Natural Gas Co. (SNG), resolving the company's costs associated with its transition to Order 636. The settlement resolves

23 rate cases, reduces rates, and provides about

$146 million in customer refunds (Docket No. RP89-224-000, et al.). Protesting parties have been severed from the case.

The refunds, plus $9.1 million contributed by SNG, will serve as a credit toward customers' liability for SNG's cost of realigning gas supplies under Order 636.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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Missouri Finds Affiliate Study Contract Imprudent

Concluding an investigation of supply-cost recovery for the Associated Natural Gas Co., a natural gas distribution company (LDC), the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) has found imprudent the LDC's long-term supply contract with an affiliated supplier, SEECO, Inc. The PSC excluded from adjustment clause recovery one-half the premium paid above spot-market prices under the contract for firm fixed-price swing-gas supply. The PSC said the LDC failed to properly evaluate other gas suppliers prior to entering into the contract or to document its gas purchasing practices.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
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