tariffs, which were previously set for hearing, are subject to FERC's final ruling on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) on open-access.
Duke argued that its proposed transmission rates should not have been set for hearing because it followed the NOPR's guidelines as well as the FERC's guidance orders [American Electric Power Service Corp., et al., 70 FERC ¶ 61,358 (1995) order on reh'g, 71 FERC ¶ 61,393 (1995) order on reh'g, 72 FERC ¶ 61,287 (1995)].
Duke added that because its first rate order was unclear as to which rate issues were set for hearing, it could be required to litigate a full cost-of-service case on the Stage One rate that the FERC already found just and reasonable in the NOPR. [The NOPR suggest two methods of calculating Stage One rates: 1) Use company-specific fixed-charge rate and company-specific information on investment costs and loads, or 2) Use an industrywide transmission fixed-charge rate (the FERC suggest 17.5 percent) and company-specific information on investment costs per kilowatt.]