Law & Lawyers

According to a new study by Resource Data International, the annual Outlook for Coal and Competing Fuels, U.S. electric load growth is accelerating, with actual utility generation growth expanding at rates comparable to the nation's real economic growth rate for the past two years.

Several electric measures suggest that in the mid-1990s, the nation is becoming more electric intensive. The 1996-1997 report suggests the nation's coal producers should see firm prices and strong demand growth in most producing regions in 1997.

Competitive electric provider Electric Lite has drawn the attention of the South Carolina Public Service Commission with its promises of guaranteed rate reductions of 20 percent.

Electric Lite intends to compete against South Carolina investor-owned utilities for customers when the Legislature opens the market to competition.

The proposed "Competitive Power Act," if approved by the Legislature, would open the state's electric markets to competition in January 1998.

According to Robert Bloom, a commissioner at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer regarding the release of the 1996 report card on Pennsylvania utilities contained "misinformation" and was "distorted."

That article reported the PUC refused to issue the 1996 report card because the commissioners disagreed on the amount of performance information that should be released in the new competitive environment (see "Headlines," FORTNIGHTLY, 3/15/97).

Virginia Power Co. has asked the Virginia Corporation Commission to freeze its base electric rates through 2002, which would set the average residential electric bill in 2002 at virtually the same as it was in 1992.

The base rate freeze is part of an alternative regulation plan submitted to the commission on March 24, which is designed to ensure stability for electric customers and shareholders during the move toward more competitive markets.