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Law & Lawyers

Low-Cost Federal Hydropower Shared With IOUs

An agreement between PacifiCorp and Bonneville Power Administration will lead to an 8-percent rate cut for PacifiCorp.'s Utah Power irrigation customers in Southeastern Idaho. Impetus for the agreement came from two Idaho legislators, the governor's office and the congressional delegation.

The proposed agreement was filed at the Idaho Public Utilities Commission and also will go through BPA's internal review process. The agreement will result in payments totaling $47.7 million over the next four years from BPA to PacifiCorp for Utah Power's Idaho residential irrigation customers.

Byline: 

Lori A. Burkhart

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Arbitration Group Focuses on Electric, Gas Disputes

The American Arbitration Association, in response to a growing level of interest by the electric and natural gas industries, has established the "National Energy Panel" to resolve disputes through mediation and arbitration.

The new panel is composed of 33 of the nation's leading energy industry experts and will resolve a range of disputes involving production, contracts, finance and marketing.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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A Break in TVA's Fence

How one Va. city squeezed through the cracks

Tennessee Valley Authority Chair Craven Crowell told the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association annual meeting in May: "We need to make sure our customers get the best prices and best service available in the electric power industry." But one customer's attempt to get lower prices has been 10 years in the making (em and TVA won't be selling to them for much longer.

Earlier this year, the Bristol, Va., Utility Board voted to end a tradition of 45 years of wholesale power purchases.

Byline: 
Lori M. Rodgers
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EEI Cities Problems With Retail Competition

Two studies examine marketers and direct-access pilots. Customers seen as "confused," dissatisfied," "frustrated."

The Edison Electric Institute has released two studies that examine increased competition in electric markets. One looks at the rapid growth of the power marketing industry, while the other examines the problems encountered by the first six retail access pilot programs in the U.S.

Power Marketers.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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People

Central Vermont Public Service Corp. hired former Electrolux Corp. CFO Douglas D. Sinclair as its marketing and business development v.p. and general manager. In addition to his new position, Sinclair will oversee day-to-day activities at two power generation and technology subsidiaries. Also at CV, Robert G. Clarke, president of Vermont Technical College, and Patrick J. Martin, president of America's Customer Operations at Xerox Corp., were elected to the board of directors.

John F. Cotter, former PECO Energy Co. power trader, was hired by Pennsylvania Power & Light Co.

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Frontlines

Speaking on June 11 in Washington, D.C., at a symposium sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Rep. dan Schaefer (R-Colo.) was heard to say that he would have his electric restructuring bill out of committee by the end of July. He said his bill would mandate electric competition by 2000--just the sort of deadline that Texas Public Utility Commission Chair Robert Gee likes to call a "Hong Kong" clause.

Will the millennium bring the dawn of customer choice? Here we are, halfway through 1997. Hong Kong is now Chinese, but in America we are still ratepayers.

Byline: 
Bruce W. Radford
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Public Power in a Competitive Electricity Market

Subsidies? Maybe. But how about reciprocity? Should Congress let PMAs, munis and co-ops decline open access?

Until recently, most congressional debate on utility deregulation has focused on the future of investor-owned utilities and independent power producers and marketers. Lobbyists for government-owned or cooperative-owned power companies have tried to downplay their clients or to seek exemptions.

Byline: 
Richard Munson
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Southern Co. Buys German Utility

Moody's on May 14 said it would maintain a negative outlook on The Southern Company's Prime-1 short-term rating for commercial paper following The Southern Company's announcement that it will acquire a 25-percent ownership interest in Berliner Kraft und Licht AG (Bewag), an electric distribution company in Berlin.

Southern will purchase a 25-percent share for $830 million, pending approval by Berlin's parliament and European regulators. A recently established consortium, consisting of Southern Co.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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Unlikely Alliance to Bid on Plants

The Conservation Law Foundation of Boston and AES Corp. have teamed up to bid on the 18 New England Electric System power plants recently put up for sale under the NEES divestiture plan that is part of its restructuring settlement.

The unusual alliance puts the conservation group with a former industry adversary. If the alliance succeeds in its bid, it likely would close up to five of the most polluting plants to reduce acid rain and smog. Also, it would protect about 30,000 acres of land from development.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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Optional Two-Part Tariffs: Toward More Effective Price Discounting

By unbundling usage from access, utilities can maximize contribution to margin and yet still retain load.

With deregulation and industry restructuring, energy utilities face price competition from marketers, brokers, independent producers and even other utilities. To succeed in this environment, utilities will need to develop innovative pricing strategies that better meet customer needs and respond more effectively to competition. The common response by utilities to competition calls for price discounting to retain "at risk"

customers by meeting the competition head-on.

Byline: 
Ronald Rudkin, and David Sibley
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