There's a new gunslinger in town, and it's heavyweight PacifiCorp. The Pacific Northwest utility is opening a marketing office in Las Vegas to gain access to large customers that may come up for grabs if retail wheeling comes to Nevada and Southern California.
fuel-transportation charge for natural gas supplies.
Consumers Power Co. has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve a Special Competitive Service (SCS) rate to help retain industrial customers who threaten to leave the system. The SCS rate would be offered to customers who can obtain their power elsewhere and to new customers considering locating or expanding facilities in Michigan. "[A]pproval of this rate would grant Consumers Power the ability to negotiate special contracts with certain `at risk' large industrial customers which have competitive energy supply options," says Michael G.
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.
In his article, "The Flawed Case for Stranded Cost Recovery" (Feb. 1, 1995), Charles Studness made many good points. Yet he omitted to mention one critical factor that influenced several utilities in the late 1970s to go ahead with new coal and nuclear capacity: the Carter Administration's 1978 Fuel Use Act, mandating that utilities cease burning natural gas by 1989.
For many companies operating in the south central United States, this requirement meant conversion or replacement of most existing capacity.
When the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reform the contract prices of two independent power producers (IPPs), Lockport Energy Associates, L.P. and Saranac Power Partners, L.P., the move triggered a call to arms from the Independent Power Producers of New York, Inc. (IPPNY). And in the pitched battle that followed, IPPNY did indeed emerge victorious. The IPPs sell electricity to New York State Electric and Gas Co.
Virginia Power (VP) has asked the Virginia Corporation Commission to prevent a municipality, the City of Falls Church, from ousting VP as the provider of electric service (Case No. PUE9500). VP says the city notified the utility that it intended to establish either a municipal purchasing or marketing entity or an electric utility that would own or control enough transmission or distribution facilities to avoid the "sham wholesale transaction" prohibition of the Energy Policy Act of 1992.
Rep. Curtis Seidlits, Jr. (D) has filed a 245-page telecommunications bill, H.B. 2128, in the Texas legislature. The bill seeks to move regulated local exchange carriers (LECs) to a more competitive arena. It also addresses issues such as infrastructure improvements, telemedicine, and the information highway. H.R. 2128 culminates two years of study by the Joint Interim Committee (House and Senate members) on Telecommunications on how to reform the way Texas telephone companies are regulated.
The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) has initiated a proceeding to pursue development of a market-based approach to natural gas regulation (Docket No. 05-GI-108). A public hearing has been set for May 16. The PSC's goal is to remove barriers to competition and permit customers to choose their natural gas service. Under the model, the PSC would stop regulating a utility's natural gas costs when it finds that a competitive market has developed for a given class of service.
In response to the recent vote by the Mescalero Apache Tribe approving creation of a temporary nuclear waste storage site on tribal lands in New Mexico, the consortium of 34 utilities seeking a spent-fuel site have geared up for action.
According to Scott Northard, project manager for the consortium, Northern States Power Co. (NSP) (em which has spearheaded the effort (em has met with the other utilities and found enough interest to move forward with the process. May 3 is the target date for firm utility commitments to the project.