FERC

Risk Holds Sway

Interest rates not always controlling for return on equity. 

(November 2014) Our annual survey of rates of return on common equity authorized by state public utility commissions in recent rate cases for electric and gas retail distribution utilities.

$9 Billion at Risk

If PJM markets should lose demand response as a capacity resource.

The AEMA sees the self-help DR revolution as a key to America’s recent industrial renaissance: “If demand response is removed from wholesale markets,” the group says, then “the electric grid is back to the rotary phone.”

Cleco Enters Agreement to be Acquired by North American Investor Group

Cleco Corporation entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by a group of North American long-term infrastructure investors led by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC), together with John Hancock Financial and other infrastructure investors (collectively, "investor group"). The agreement values Cleco at approximately $4.7 billion, including approximately $1.3 billion of assumed debt.

Duke Energy Progress Files with FERC for Approval to Purchase NCEMPA Generation Assets

Duke Energy Progress filed with FERC for approval to purchase the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency's (NCEMPA) generating assets for $1.2 billion. NCEMPA currently maintains partial ownership interest in several Duke Energy Progress plants, including Brunswick Nuclear Plant Units 1 and 2, Mayo Plant, Roxboro Plant Unit 4, and the Harris Nuclear Plant. The Power Agency's ownership interest in these plants represents approximately 700 MW of generating capacity.

PPL Montana Agreement to Sell Hydroelectric Facilities Wins Regulatory Approval

PPL Montana has agreed to sell its hydroelectric facilities to NorthWestern Energy. Montana Public Service Commission voted to prepare an order approving NorthWestern Energy's request to purchase the facilities. The agreement includes PPL Montana's 11 hydroelectric power plants, which have a combined generating capacity of more than 630 MW, as well as the company's Hebgen Lake reservoir. PPL Montana and NorthWestern have secured required approvals from FERC, as well as the necessary clearance from the antitrust enforcement agencies.

Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas Select Dominion to Build Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas selected Dominion to build and operate the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 550-mile interstate natural gas pipeline from West Virginia, through Virginia and into eastern North Carolina to meet the region’s rapidly growing demand for natural gas.

Digest (Sept 2014)

Duke Energy Progress agreed to purchase $1.2 billion in generating assets from North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency; ABB won a $400 million order that would create the first electricity link between Newfoundland and the North American power grid; Siemens Energy secured an order for a total capacity of 36 MW in Germany; NextEra Energy Partners’ Bluewater Wind Energy Center in Ontario began commercial operation; the Department of Energy took the first step toward issuing a $150 million loan guarantee to support construction of the Cape Wind offshore wind project; and others ...

FERC's Folly

Remand Order 745, fix the compensation scheme, but retain federal jurisdiction.

Why the D.C. Circuit should rehear the appeal of FERC Order 745, and how it should rule.

Start the Conversation

The regulator’s role in a world divided by distributed generation.

A state utility commissioner urges her colleagues to begin planning now for distributed generation – before it’s too late.

Duke Energy Sells Non-Regulated Midwest Generation Business for $2.8B

Dynegy plans to buy Duke Energy’s non-regulated Midwest Commercial Generation Business for $2.8 billion in cash, which includes ownership interests in 11 power plants and Duke Energy Retail Sales, the company's retail business in Ohio. The completion of the transaction is conditioned on approval from FERC, the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott Rodino Act, and the release of certain credit support obligations. Closing is expected to occur in three to six months.