A special report
on transmission,
power pools, ISOs,
and the fallout from FERC Order 888."WHAT IS NEW IN THE INDUSTRY IS
not the conclusion that coordination in operations is needed to avoid chaos.
Sound bites from state and federal regulators.
Contel Merger. California removes stay on Contel/GTE merger. Orders equal sharing of short- and long-term economic benefits between ratepayers and shareholders. Fessler dissents, finding that the utility "had not established an entitlement to 50 percent of these savings." A.90-09-043, Decision 96-04-053, Apr. 10, 1996 (Cal.P.S.C.).
Local Telephone Resale. California requires two of the state's major LECs to offer a broad range of services for resale at wholesale rates.
When I wrote this column on July 11, Rep. Dan Schaefer (R-CO) had just concluded a news conference to announce his "Electric Consumers' Power to Choose Act of 1996." Reams of testimony were pouring in, demanding to be read. Faxes arrived nonstop all afternoon with offers from experts to provide comments, quotes, or some unique spin on the day's events.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has issued final regulations to guide the restructuring of intrastate transportation services offered by natural gas local distribution companies (LDCs) in the state. The PUC issued the new rules as a "tentative order" to allow additional comments from interested parties because of ongoing changes in the gas industry, and because over two years had passed since it issued proposed rules.
William A. Fox was named president of The Peoples Natural Gas Co. and Hope Gas, Inc. (em both subsidiaries of Consolidated Natural Gas Co. Fox comes from Virginia Natural Gas, another subsidiary. Succeeding him is Jerry L. Causey, VNG's operations v.p. Francis J. Corbett, formerly g.m. of VNG's northern division office, steps into Causey's post. Jose M. Simon was made controller at the corporate office. Joseph R.
The Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has struck down a prohibition against resale of electric service imposed by Toledo Edison Co. on owners and operators of commercial property. The PUC said that the case and other similar actions had begun as civil actions by landlords to collect back rent where disputes arose over the energy portion of monthly payments by tenants.
The United States Telephone Association has called for more voluntary interconnection agreements between telecom companies, claiming that the resulting competition will bring consumers more choices. USTA cited more than 50 signed agreements with companies that want to connect to the local network, and nearly 500 ongoing negotiations.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved the Gas Research Institute's request for a 20-percent cut in its 1996 research, development, and commercialization budget.
The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) has adopted a set of policy guidelines to restructure and promote competition in local gas markets. The PSC said that a major problem is determining how smaller core customers can benefit: "Reliance on competitive market forces is preferable to regulation," but only when competition is effective and sustainable. To test for competition, the PSC will monitor: 1) the ability of providers to make functionally equivalent service readily available, and 2) the numbers and market strength of competitive providers.
Kenetech Windpower (KW), a subsidiary of Kenetech Corp., on May 29 filed a voluntary petition of reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California. Parent corporation Kenetech does not intend to seek bankruptcy relief, nor cause any of its subsidiaries not directly engaged in the windpower business to seek such relief.
The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) has set rates and terms for unbundled interconnection services that U S WEST Communications, Inc., a local exchange carrier (LEC), must provide to other carriers seeking to provide competitive local service. The IUB ruled that U S WEST must use the Total Service Long Run Incremental Cost method to set prices for the use of its facilities. It also ruled that the LEC may include "an appropriate markup" in the rates as well as a contribution to shared and common costs of the local loop.
