The Michigan Court of Appeals has directed the Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) to expand its deregulation of telecommunications markets in compliance with a 1991 state law revamping telecommunications. It said that the PSC had defined too broadly which types of services should remain regulated under the 1991 law, the Michigan Telecommunications Act (MTAct).
Municipalities in the San Francisco Bay area are joining together to form an electric buying group in anticipation of the deregulation of the California electric market. The group, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), will flex its collective buying power first in natural gas.
While setting rates for Union Gas Ltd., a natural gas local distribution company (LDC), the Ontario Energy Board has found the company's demand-side management (DSM) plan deficient, and required shareholders to pay for any required remedies. The Board added, however, that denial of the DSM budget would be contrary to the public interest.
It said that the plan as presented was "essentially a marketing plan" for supplying energy efficiency goods and services (em one that fell short of DSM guidelines.
Boston Edison Co. (BE), the first investor-owned electric utility in the nation to issue a request for proposals to secure options for buying wholesale electricity, now has received bids for more than 4,300 megawatts, with some offers for 1998 priced between three and four cents per kilowatt-hour.
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has once again refused to grant "blanket approval" of an investment program for natural gas vehicle (NGV) refueling stations proposed by Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G).
The Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has approved a 2.43 percent rate increase in the price cap for Central Maine Power Co. (CMP). It also issued findings governing the flow-through to ratepayers of savings earned by restructuring contracts with qualifying cogeneration facilities (QFs).
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has filed comments to support the "majority proposal" by the California Public Utilities Commission on deregulating the electric utility industry, which calls for formation of a wholesale power pool.
SDG&E noted that while a key element of the proposal involved creating an independent system operator, the company would go further and set up a regional transmission company to own the grid.
The Virginia State Corporation Commission has approved a new pilot program for a "Standby Generation Control System" proposed by Virginia Electric and Power Co. The system would allow the utility to dispatch customer-owned generators at periods of system peak demand.
executive director of Toward Utility Rate Normalization (TURN), a consumer advocacy group, has asked California Gov. Pete Wilson for the vacant seat on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
