Five utility companies have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Birmingham against the Tennessee Valley Authority to bar it from making sales to unauthorized third parties for resale outside TVA's service territory, claiming such sales violate the TVA Act.
"TVA is under more intense attack from private utilities than at any time in its history," said TVA Chair Craven Crowell at an April 15 at a meeting of the TVA Caucus in Washington, D.C.
Can NERC Juggle All Three En Route to Open Access?
At the year's start, the North American Electric Reliability Council decided to leave its "peer pressure" policy behind and require mandatory compliance with its reliability standards. As NERC grapples with its new policy, Public Utilities Fortnightly asked eight industry representatives how they might ensure reliability in a restructured electric industry.
It had taken time for NERC to arrive at this point, but itÆs official: Mandatory sanctions and business incentives will soon be used to enforce compliance.
Sound bites from state and federal regulators.
Green Pricing. Michigan allows Detroit Edison Co. to expand its existing experimental photovoltaic "green pricing" program, finding current solar capacity fully subscribed, with a waiting list for new participants. Case No. U-10893, March 27 1997 (Mi.P.S.C.).
NUG Contracts. Virginia permits Delmarva Power & Light Co. to amend purchased power contract with Star Enterprises, its principal nonutility supplier, by suspending capacity supply and payment obligations through May 31, 2000. Case No.
More than a decade ago, working at the energy laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the late Fred Schweppe devised a novel scheme for pricing electric transmission. His solution? Do nothing. Simply ignore transmission.
The Missouri Public Service Commission has approved the merger of Union Electric Co. and CIPSCO Inc., if Union Electric meets certain requirements, such as helping to form an independent system operator for the region's transmission system.
The formation of the ISO must be consistent with guidelines established by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The proposed merger will include the formation of a new entity, Ameren Corp., as a federally regulated public utility holding company.
Acquisition Premium.
Jay L. Witkin replaces Jerome Feit, who retired, as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's solicitor. Also at the FERC, Judith Ann Dowd will serve as an administrative law judge. Dowd joins the FERC from the National Labor Relations Board.
PacifiCorp hired John Carr as assistant v.p., global industrial sales. Carr joins PacifiCorp from Direct Services Industries, where he served as an executive director.
Melissa L. Reese was hired by CMS Marketing, Services and Trading as a natural gas trader. CMS Marketing is the energy marketing unit for CMS Energy Corp.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has affirmed a 1995 order by the Interstate Commerce Commission (now the Surface Transportation Board) approving the merger of two major railways serving the western U.S., despite claims by several electric utilities that the merger would result in unfair rail prices.
The appeals court rejected claims by the electric utilities that the ICC should have assigned trackage rights and imposed rate caps while approving the merger of Burlington Northern Inc. and The Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Co.
Allegheny Power System Inc. will merge with DQE Inc., parent company of Duquesne Light Co., to form Allegheny Energy, which will save both companies about $1 billion over the next 10 years.
The new company will have a total market capitalization of $10.6 billion: $6.2 billion in equity and $4.4 billion in net debt and preferred stock.
"Allegheny Power is a winter-peaking operation: Its low-cost, efficient operations and suburban and rural customer mix fit well with our summer-peaking operation and urban customer base," said David Marshall, President and CEO of DQE.
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission has authorized the merger of Puget Sound Power & Light Co. and Washington Natural Gas Co.
The merged company will be renamed Puget Sound Energy, to operate as a combined electric and gas utility headquartered in Bellevue, Wash.
Under the settlement agreement, general rates for natural gas will remain unchanged until Jan. 1, 1999. Electric rates will be lowered between 1.9 percent and 6.3 percent, depending on customer class.
Enron Corp. has acquiesced to a demand from the Oregon Public Utility Commission for $141 million in rate cuts as a condition to approval of the proposed merger between Enron and Portland General Corp.
The PUC staff had informed Enron in March that it would not approve the merger, based on Enron's proposed $61-million rate cut, and said it would only accept $141 million in guaranteed cost savings and rate cuts.
The trade-off is that shareholders of Portland General will receive less for their stock than Enron originally had offered.
