Become a PUF Member Organization

Law & Lawyers

Wash. Approves DSM Financing Plan

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC), in a case of first impression, has approved a request by Puget Sound Power & Light Co. to finance the full amount of its unamortized conservation investment through a new Conservation Asset Transaction and a Pooling Service Agreement. Estimated savings to the company associated with the financing arrangement total $22.7 million, with $19.9 million passed through to ratepayers and the rest allocated to the benefit of shareholders.
Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
Read Entire Article

Michigan Affirms Electric Discount Rates

The Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) has reaffirmed its earlier approval of special manufacturing contracts submitted by Detroit Edison Co. to supply power to Chrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co., and General Motors Corp. Opponents had argued that the PSC erred by approving the price discounts while deferring consideration of their rate treatment as well as their effect on existing competitive programs.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
Read Entire Article

LDC Must Shoulder Coal Tar Clean-up Costs

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (URC) has denied an Indiana Gas Co., Inc. request for rate recovery of environmental costs associated with three of its instate manufactured gas plant (MGP) sites. The URC found that the local distribution company (LDC) had assumed the associated environmental liability in purchasing the properties, and that the costs were not related to providing gas service to current ratepayers.

Byline: 
Phillip S. Cross
Read Entire Article

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
Read Entire Article

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
Read Entire Article

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
Read Entire Article

Financial News

Traditional utility regulation has been unable to prevent the electric rates of some utilities from rising far above those of neighboring companies. Two factors are responsible for this failure. First, regulators lack the means to keep seemingly reasonable but unnecessary costs from creeping into rates. Second, ratemaking considers a utility's costs in isolation and does not use peer benchmarks to true up rates.

Political pressure helped limit rate increases for nuclear plants during the 1980s.

Byline: 
Charles M. Studness
Read Entire Article

RTGs Make Progress

The Southwest Regional Transmission Association (SWRTA) has filed amended bylaws with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), incorporating two FERC conditions: 1) comparable transmission service, and 2) a single regional transmission plan. To achieve comparability, each transmitting member subject to FERC jurisdiction under sections 205 and 206 of the Federal Power Act will file comparable transmission service tariffs with the FERC.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
Read Entire Article

FERC Creates Companion to NOPR

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a companion order to its open-access Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Docket No. ER93-540-003). The new order offers guidelines for presiding judges and participants in pending open-access cases that concern public utilities' offers of nondiscriminatory services.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
Read Entire Article

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
Read Entire Article