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Law & Lawyers

Arkansas Approves Fuel Clause Treatment for Test Energy

According to the Arkansas Public Service Commission (PSC), the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp treated ratepayers fairly when it used its fuel adjustment clause to recover the value of test energy produced at one of its hydroelectric facilities. The PSC rejected a claim by its staff that the recovery was misplaced because no fuel costs were actually incurred for generating the test energy. The PSC said the co-op deserved a credit for the value of the energy because the value of the hydroelectric plant would be reduced by the same amount under the approved accounting treatment.
Byline: 

Phillip S. Cross

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Wisconsin Aims for Municipal Tax Fairness

The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) has initiated a rulemaking to introduce an alternative method of calculating the tax equivalent for municipal utilities. The tax equivalent is calculated annually and represents the amount of money a municipal utility pays directly into the municipality's general fund. The rulemaking responds to concerns that the tax equivalent was excessive when compared to the gross receipts taxes paid by investor-owned utilities.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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Mass. Requires Innovative Financing for Water Plant

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) has granted preliminary approval to a water utility's proposal to "project finance" the cost of a new treatment facility required to comply with federal and state laws. The utility, Massachusetts-American Water Co., had proposed forming a special purpose corporation solely to finance the plant. The new corporation would lease the facility to the utility, using the payments to repay tax-exempt bonds issued under the financing plan.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
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HLP Tariff Must Recover Marginal Cost

By a 2-1 vote, the Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has placed a condition on approval of Houston Lighting and Power's (HLP) experimental tariff for special contract pricing (Rate Schedule SCP) with industrial customers whose electric power needs are or can be served by alternative sources of power: The floor of the rates must be designed to recover marginal costs (Docket No. 12957). The order on rehearing affirmed an earlier PUC decision shortening the term of the contracts from the proposed 7 to 10 years to 5 to 10 years.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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The Efficient Utility: Labor, Capital, and Profit

Are utilities working at top productive capacity? A novel look at 19 investor-owned electrics in the Sun Belt.

Major restructuring is expected to hit investor-owned utilities (IOUs) over the next decade. Competitive market forces, in place of rate-of-return regulation, will require many companies to evaluate their resource allocations. No longer will singular adjustments in resource use suffice when both capital and labor resources must be realigned.

Byline: 
D. Thomas Taylor and Russell G. Thompson
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Gas Roundup

While setting a new gas cost adjustment rate for Delmarva Power & Light Co., a combined electric and gas utility, the Delaware Public Service Commission (PSC) found the utility's unaccounted-for-gas incentive program unnecessary because it had accomplished its objective, as evidenced by a steady decline in the rate of unaccounted-for gas. The PSC approved a $300,000 incentive award for the current adjustment. Re Delmarva Power & Light Co., PSC Dkt. No. 94-123F, March 21, 1995 (Del.P.S.C.).In another case, the PSC allowed Chesapeake Utilities Corp.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
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The Efficient Merger: Synergies and Strategic Position

Time to rethink conventional

mergers? For

instance, why

combine two vertically integrated utilities when the market may call for disaggregation?

All deregulating industries share the same lesson: profits eventually decline, leading to consolidation. Electric utilities are no different.

Byline: 
Thomas J. Flaherty
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Local Telephone Competition

The Arizona Corporation Commission (CC) has approved new rules that allow telephone companies to provide basic dial tone service in competition with existing monopoly providers. The competitive companies may also provide intraLATA toll service.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
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Photovoltaics: A Dispatchable Peak-Shaving Option

PV technology combined with storage offers a cost-effective alternative to capacity additions.By John Byrne,

Young-Doo Wang,

Ralph Nigro, and

Steven E. Letendre

Until recently, both regulators and electric utilities have considered photovoltaic (PV) technology (i.e., solar cells) an unattractive

energy-supply option because of its relatively high cost. Now, however, a number of utilities have shown interest in using PV for peak-shaving.

Byline: 
John Byrne, Young-Doo Wang, Ralph Nigro, and Steven E. Letendre
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More on Executive Compensation

Following an established policy disallowing rate recovery of executive incentive compensation awards, the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has rejected ratepayer funding for a salary plan administered by GTE Hawaiian Telephone Co., Inc. The PUC denied the carrier's attempt to differentiate its executive incentive plan by asserting that the plan was not a "bonus or extra compensation," but part of a total salary package set at a level competitive with market compensation.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
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