Northern Border Plans Expansion
Northern Border Pipeline Co. has filed for federal approval to extend its pipeline system 218 miles deeper into the Midwest, at a cost of $370 million. Sponsors say the project could be in service by November 1997.
Fortnightly Magazine - April 1 1995
IntraLATA Competition Advances in Kentucky
The Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) has moved closer to full competition in the telecommunications intraLATA market by approving an implementation schedule, monitoring rules, and cost-recovery methods for intraLATA equal access. It had established the equal access, or "dialing parity," goal in a 1991 order on competition in the telephone market.
Byline:
Phillip S. Cross
Mass. Utilities Settle Stranded Investment Issues
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has accepted a settlement agreement between Massachusetts Electric Co. (ME), the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), and Boston Edison Co., which decides stranded investment and wheeling issues arising from ME's loss of MBTA as a retail customer (Docket No. ER94-129-000). The case arose in 1991, when the Massachusetts legislature designated MBTA a "domestic electric utility," allowing MBTA to leave ME. MBTA then signed a wholesale supply agreement with Boston Edison.
Byline:
Lori A. Burkhart
California Denies Rehearing on IntraLATA Competition
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has denied applications for rehearing and a request for a stay of its recent decision to expand intraLATA competition and redesign rates for local exchange carriers to prevent revenue losses and ensure the proper pricing of bundled competitive services. Re Alternative Regulatory Frameworks for Local Exchange Carriers, I.87-11-033; Application Nos. 85-01-034 et al., Decision 95-01-047, Jan 24., 1995 (Cal.P.U.C.). t
Phillip S. Cross is an associate legal editor of PUBLIC UTILITIES FORTNIGHTLY.
Byline:
Phillip S. Cross
Perspective
We stand on the threshold of a new era in the electric services industry. I deliberately avoid the term "electric utility industry," because the future is not limited to the vertically integrated monopoly utility. Many utilities may already perceive the first cracks in their armor: nonutility generators (NUGs), self-generators, and energy service companies.
Competition is not in the industry's future; it is here now. Further, competition and market forces are not going to magically disappear.
Byline:
Patricia M. Eckhert
Telecom Reform: New Congress, New Bill
Here we go again. Last year, the 103rd Congress failed to pass the much-promised and highly touted telecommunications reform legislation aimed at bringing the antiquated Communications Act of 1934 into the 21st century. Now it's up to the 104th Congress, and both parties have draft legislation ready to go.
In February, Sen.
Byline:
Lori A. Burkhart
The Electric and Gas Industries are Converging: What Does it Mean?
RETAIL DEREGULATION:
A TRANSFORMING EVENT
Retail sales of gas and electricity run about $300 billion a year. The deregulation of energy production, wholesale logistics, and bulk consumption has brought competition to about 40 to 45 percent of the value chain from wellhead and busbar to the retail meter.
Byline:
Vinod K. Dar
Louisville G&E Settles on Comparability
Louisville Gas and Electric Co. (LG&E) has filed a settlement offer on comparability of electric transmission, the result of negotiations with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) staff since November. The first of its kind filed at the FERC, the settlement forms part of LG&E's comparable transmission service case, which involves the utility's network and point-to-point tariffs.
Byline:
Lori A. Burkhart
The Growing Strategic Role of Fuels
The advent of a competitive electric utility industry will fundamentally change the role of fuels in the industry. The fact that fuel is the dominant variable cost in power generation will reverse the relationship between the fuels and power production functions in many companies. Only plants that are competitive will operate; only operating plants will produce revenues.
Byline:
Jeffrey P. Price
FERC Investigates Gas Transportation Pricing
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has asked for comments on alternatives to traditional cost-of-service pricing for interstate natural gas pipeline transportation rates (Docket No. RM95-6-000). In response to many requests from pipeline companies to approve rates based on other pricing methods, some cost-based and some not, the FERC wants to develop a framework for analyzing alternative proposals.
Byline:
Lori A. Burkhart