Missouri Public Service Commission

Entergy, ITC Discontinue Pursuit of Transmission Spin/Merger

Entergy and ITC Holdings mutually agreed to end their pursuit of a spin/merger of Entergy's transmission business with ITC. The companies formally terminated the merger agreement and filed pleadings to withdraw the remaining transaction approval applications with Entergy's retail regulators, as well as the Missouri Public Service Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The companies originally announced the deal on Dec.

Missouri Court Upholds Transmission Cost Denial

The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling by the Missouri Public Service Commission that had disallowed from retail electric rates federally approved costs associated with the transmission of electricity from one of the subject utility’s out-of-state generating plants, even while at the same time allowing recovery of the costs of constructing and operating the plant. The court rejected arguments by the utility, KCP&L Greater Missouri Operations Company (KCP&L-GMO), that the filed rate doctrine obligated the commission to include federally approved charges in retail rates.

Cost-Recovery for Pre-Approved Projects

Uncertainties remain, but recent cases provide guidance.

Levelized rates can serve customers’ interests, while also accelerating capital investment and providing an economic stimulus to the economy.

Missouri OKs Lower Voluntary Rate Schedules

The Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) approved a proposal by Ameren Missouri to update a voluntary program which gives consumers the opportunity to finance the purchase renewable energy credits (REC). Ameren charges customers $15 per credit, including the ability to purchase amounts equal to their monthly usage or select a set number of RECs per month. The PSC said that price was about average for such programs in the United States.

People (November 2011)

Exelon and Constellation announce post-merger executive lineup; Xcel Energy names new CFO and general counsel; Organization of MISO States elects new officer; plus senior staff changes at FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating, American Electric Power, Alterra Power, and others.

New Day for Prudence

Pre-approvals demand a new approach to managing risks and costs.

Proving the need for new infrastructure construction for energy purchases has become more complicated for utilities. State commissions reserve the right to revisit rate-base investments after the fact, even when they’ve been pre-approved.

Rate Case Analytics

Hard numbers support operating- and capital-cost claims for gen plants.

It’s been a long time since many electric utilities have had to ask their rate commissions for the amounts of money they’re asking for today. States with deregulation programs either have frozen rates or reduced them over the last decade, in the hopes that competition would naturally lower prices to consumers. Now those programs are ending and their success is questionable. Utilities in more regulated states haven’t faced since the 1970s new build programs like the ones currently contemplated.

The Fortnightly 40

(September 2008) Shareholder value remains strong as the Big Build begins. Our fourth annual ranking shows healthy growth in earnings and share prices. But as capital spending grows, dividends are shrinking and equity returns are weakening. Regulatory relationships will separate future winners from losers.

Depreciation Shell Game

Accounting reforms might force regulators to abandon their live-now, pay-later practices.

When an advisory committee of the SEC voted recently to phase out special accounting treatment for various industries, it signaled the end may be near for power plant depreciation deferral mechanisms. Such mechanisms are a mainstay of regulatory accounting in many states, and their discontinuation could send plant owners and regulators back to the drawing board to find a new, GAAP-compliant way to recognize asset depreciation in financial reports.

Regulators Forum: Restructuring Rollback

State-policy turmoil reshapes utility markets.

As many states move toward re-regulation, we speak to commissioners in Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia to learn how policies are evolving—and how far the regulatory shakeup will go