Become a PUF Member Organization

Fortnightly Magazine - May 1 1996

James River Refuses $1-Million Cut

The James River Corp.'s Dixie Cup manufacturing plant in Darlington, SC, has declined a $1-million rate cut offered by Carolina Power & Light Co. Dixie Cup, which hopes to slash its electric bill by $700,000 a year, or $4.9 million over seven years, said the offer was only one-fifth what it needs. Meanwhile, it has asked the City of Darlington to municipalize its electric system. Dixie Cup has asked for a citizen referendum; the city council is awaiting the outcome of a municipalization feasibility study.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
Read Entire Article

AT&T Enters Local Market in Maryland

The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) has authorized AT&T Communications of Maryland, Inc. to compete with local exchange telephone carriers (LECs) throughout the state as a "co-carrier and reseller." According to the PSC, AT&T plans to enter the LEC market as a reseller, expanding over time to offer a full range of facilities-based services.

By separate order, the PSC opened a new proceeding to set wholesale prices for the components of local exchange services.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
Read Entire Article

CPEX Adds Multihour Trading

MAY

16

The Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy's Project for the Study of Public Regulation and the Environment, Maine's Future Energy Policy, Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, ME

(207) 581-1539

16-17

Association of Energy Engineers, The New Power Market: Opportunities for Producers, Sellers & Users of

Read Entire Article

N.J. Softens Gas Price Spike

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has approved a plan by Public Service Electric and Gas Co., a combined electric and gas utility, to reduce charges for commercial and industrial (C/I) gas sales customers to temper "dramatic" gas cost increases linked both to price moves in December at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), and a recent switch from an annual levelized adjustment clause mechanism to an indexed monthly adjustment.

According to the BPU, the utility's C/I gas customers would see a 20-percent rate increase for January 1996.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
Read Entire Article

Niagara Mohawk Refuses "Adequate assurances"

U.S. District Court Judge John E. Sprizzo has ruled that Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. (NiMo) has no right to demand "adequate assurances" from independent power producers (IPPs) that unsecured tracking account balances will be repaid. The decision stems from a series of lawsuits filed by IPPs in response to a February 1994 letter from NiMo threatening contract repudiation unless the assurances were given (Ecogen Four Partners v.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
Read Entire Article

Plan Will Substitute for Gas Capacity Release

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has authorized Elizabethtown Gas Co., to change its seasonal delivery service tariff to allow third-party suppliers to bid on incremental pipeline capacity for a limited time. (Unlike other gas distributors [LDCs], Elizabethtown could not take advantage of capacity-release programs approved by the board.) The company will allocate up to 2.5 billion cubic feet of capacity for the new offering and will not contract for additional capacity to operate the program.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
Read Entire Article

Former Workers Allege Age Discrimination

Seventeen former Florida Power Corp. (FPC) employees have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Ocala against the utility, alleging age discrimination. Plaintiffs claim that most of the workers who lost jobs in restructuring layoffs are over 40, and were targeted because of high salaries or costly illnesses. If certified as a class-action lawsuit, plaintiffs say as many as 1,000 workers laid off since 1993 may join them. FPC disputes that estimate, claiming that the ages of the laid-off workers ranged from the 20's to the 60's. (em LB t

Lori A.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
Read Entire Article

Multiyear Rate Agreements to Continue

Noting controversy surrounding multi-year incentive agreements in utility rate cases, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved guidelines for filing multiyear rate proposals and requests to depart from approved rate plans. The guidelines deemphasize the importance of "global" settlements in such cases, and reaffirm the rights of nonsettling parties to litigate issues raised by incentive and multiyear rate proposals. The PSC acknowledged the worth of multi-year settlements, but declined to rely exclusively on such agreements.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
Read Entire Article

Perspective

The 129 federally owned plants that make up the five PMAs generate about 6 percent of the electricity sold in the United States.1 By law, the PMAs sell wholesale power at cost to legally stipulated "preference customers" (em i.e., municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives.

Byline: 
Clyde Wayne Crews, Jr.
Read Entire Article

N.Y. Eyes Strategy for Number Portability

The New York Public Service Commission (PSC) has endorsed location routing number (LRN) technology as the most viable long-term solution to telephone number portability, although it does not expect LRN to become generally available for installation on most major central-office switching equipment until the second quarter of 1997.

The PSC noted that LRN minimizes the impact on network architecture by preserving existing routing logic and hierarchy, thus minimizing switch modifications and changes to databases and operating systems.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
Read Entire Article
V