The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) has authorized AT&T Communications of Maryland, Inc. to compete with local exchange telephone carriers (LECs) throughout the state as a "co-carrier and reseller." According to the PSC, AT&T plans to enter the LEC market as a reseller, expanding over time to offer a full range of facilities-based services.

By separate order, the PSC opened a new proceeding to set wholesale prices for the components of local exchange services.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has approved a plan by Public Service Electric and Gas Co., a combined electric and gas utility, to reduce charges for commercial and industrial (C/I) gas sales customers to temper "dramatic" gas cost increases linked both to price moves in December at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), and a recent switch from an annual levelized adjustment clause mechanism to an indexed monthly adjustment.

According to the BPU, the utility's C/I gas customers would see a 20-percent rate increase for January 1996.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has authorized Elizabethtown Gas Co., to change its seasonal delivery service tariff to allow third-party suppliers to bid on incremental pipeline capacity for a limited time. (Unlike other gas distributors [LDCs], Elizabethtown could not take advantage of capacity-release programs approved by the board.) The company will allocate up to 2.5 billion cubic feet of capacity for the new offering and will not contract for additional capacity to operate the program.

Noting controversy surrounding multi-year incentive agreements in utility rate cases, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved guidelines for filing multiyear rate proposals and requests to depart from approved rate plans. The guidelines deemphasize the importance of "global" settlements in such cases, and reaffirm the rights of nonsettling parties to litigate issues raised by incentive and multiyear rate proposals. The PSC acknowledged the worth of multi-year settlements, but declined to rely exclusively on such agreements.

The New York Public Service Commission (PSC) has endorsed location routing number (LRN) technology as the most viable long-term solution to telephone number portability, although it does not expect LRN to become generally available for installation on most major central-office switching equipment until the second quarter of 1997.

The PSC noted that LRN minimizes the impact on network architecture by preserving existing routing logic and hierarchy, thus minimizing switch modifications and changes to databases and operating systems.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) has authorized Mountaineer Gas Co. to set up a method to compensate interruptible transportation customers for "banked" over-deliveries eventually used by other sales customers. The company historically permitted its transportation customers to bank excess volumes, and used the gas to reduce purchases for sales customers.

Under the new method, the company will buy current and future banked supplies at a "market determined" rate.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has ruled that Florida Power and Light Co. (FP&L) is protected by the state action immunity doctrine from liability to cogenerators (QFs) for alleged antitrust violations. The QFs had claimed that FP&L violated federal antitrust laws when it refused to wheel their power to offsite end users.

A New York appeals court has upheld a 1994 decision by the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) authorizing a qualifying cogeneration facility (QF) to make retail sales to certain industrial customers in the service territory of a retail electric utility. The PSC had authorized Sithe/ Independence Power Partners L.P. (em developers of a 1040-megawatt natural gas fired QF (em to sell electricity to steam host customers Alcan Rolled Products Co. and Liberty Paperboard L.P. See, Re Sithe/Independence Power Partners L.P., 155 PUR4th 149 (N.Y.P.S.C. 1994).

of charitable giving at 11 investor-owned electric utilities from across the country.

Of those companies surveyed, one pegged its charitable contributions budget as a percent of revenue. Some indicated that they

followed the "utility average" of giving 0.5 percent of income before taxes. (The national average for all companies is 0.9 percent.) Four utilities reported donations at or above that figure.

they fit into a restructured industry?

Put 45 energy service companies (ESCos) into a $1-billion market, and they easily average over $20 million each. That's almost four dozen companies exploiting a niche an eighth the size of the microprocessor industry.

So it's easy to understand why new ESCos, half with utility roots, enter the fray weekly.