South Dakota Court Settles Boundary Dispute

Fortnightly Magazine - July 15 1997
This full article is only accessible by current license holders. Please login to view the full content.
Don't have a license yet? Click here to sign up for Public Utilities Fortnightly, and gain access to the entire Fortnightly article database online.

South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that state regulators erred in authorizing an electric utility to serve an established industrial customer of an electric cooperative.

The commission had found that the Northwestern Public Service Co. could replace Northern Electric Cooperative as the electric supplier for Hub City Inc. Hub had purchased an industrial property containing manufacturing facilities served by the utility and a plant addition served by the co-op.

Previously, the commission had allowed the co-op to serve the addition, although it was inside the utility's service territory under the "new customer, new location, large load" provision of the state's Territorial Integrity Act. Later, however, the commission found Hub could cut its energy costs by allowing the utility to serve the entire facility. The commission ruled a "significant change in circumstances" justified such a switch. It said the service agreement between the co-op and the original industrial customer granted the property owner a contractual right to terminate the co-op as its supplier.

According to the court, the commission's original ruling that split suppliers at the facility established the addition as part of the assigned service territory of the co-op. Simultaneously, the co-op acquired the exclusive right to provide retail service at that location. State law provided large, new-load customers with the right to choose suppliers under certain circumstances, but it did not create a second option to switch again, the court said.

This full article is only accessible by current license holders. Please login to view the full content.
Don't have a license yet? Click here to sign up for Public Utilities Fortnightly, and gain access to the entire Fortnightly article database online.