Clearing a legal challenge blocking initiation of New Hampshire's newly approved retail wheeling experiment, the New Hampshire Supreme Court has ruled that the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) has the authority to grant competing electric utility franchises. Public Service Co.
The South Carolina Public Service Commission (PSC) has adopted an alternative regulation plan for BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc, a local exchange carrier (LEC). The plan replaces an incentive regulation plan adopted by the PSC in 1991, but subsequently reversed by the state supreme court. See, South Carolina Cable Television Association v. South Carolina Pub. Service Commission et al., 437 S.E.2d 38, 150 PUR4th 216 (S.C. 1993).
The Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) has terminated an alternative regulation plan adopted for U S WEST Communications, Inc. a telecommunications local exchange carrier (LEC), in 1991.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has rejected claims that an experimental performance-based rate plan for San Diego Gas and Electric Co., a combined electric and natural gas utility, was yielding "perverse results" and should be modified in keeping with the PUC's purposes in establishing the experiment. According to the Utility Consumers' Action Network, the utility had earned a profit that exceeded its authorized return by 114 basis points while the plan was in effect.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has authorized Duquesne Light Co. to expand its economic development rate initiatives to include small industrial customers. The new rate rider provides a five-year discount on demand charges on a maximum of 100 kilowatts (Kw) for new or existing customers smaller than 100 Kw. If the utility's service territory is to recover from the steel industry's devastating downturn, the PUC argued, Duquesne must be able to offer a competitive rate to keep industrial operations of all sizes.
While the cost of common household goods like bread and milk increased 77 and 50 percent, respectively, from 1985 to 1995, the average residential electricity bill for customers of San Diego Gas & Electric Co. (SDG&E) dropped 13.6 percent over the same period, according to San Diego Chamber of Commerce statistics.
That trend shows no sign of abating. In fact, low rates are fast becoming a staple for the utility's 1.2 million electric customers.
As FERC moves forward, most state legislators have remained content to sit back and wait for others to act. Part of this reticence stems from politics—the difficulty of changing course, invading someone else's turf, or tackling a new subject outside one's area of expertise. Legislators view problems differently than do regulators.
Lawmakers see different imperatives than regulators or industry execs, such as protecting the tax base for the local community.
APPA Director Alan Richardson will fight
toe-to-toe with well-heeled
adversaries. If he were a boxer, his name might be Alan "The Right" Richardson.
The executive director of the American Public Power Association (APPA) always toes the canvas, swinging for equity for his 1,750 members, shadowing its "heavyweight" adversaries, investor-owned electric utilities (IOUs).
Gas restructuring didn't end with Order 636, it just outran the regulators. Now the rules come from the downstream dealmakers.
Gas restructuring didn't end with Order 636, it just outran the regulators. Now the rules come from the downstream dealmakers.