Law & Lawyers

The Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has authorized Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. to enter into oil price-swap and price-cap transactions. The utility said that the since the PUC had eliminated its fuel adjustment clause in an earlier proceeding, it had sought ways to reduce the risk associated with fuel price changes. The oil "price hedges," seek to set Bangor's future cost of oil by requiring the parties to pay a settlement amount if the actual price, as published by a well-recognized source, should vary from the price contained in the agreement.

The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) has initiated an investigation of electric industry restructuring and emerging competition. The SCC stressed that Virginia is not saddled with high-cost power, and that larger electric utilities in the state currently provide service at rates "significantly below" the national average. Nevertheless, the SCC concluded that a formal investigation was necessary to determine whether regulatory improvements might result in reliable service at lower costs for state consumers.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) has ruled that Cambridge Electric Co. may recover stranded costs from customers that switch to self-generation. The DPU made the ruling while reviewing a "Customer Transition Charge" (CTC) filed as part of the utility's tariff for services in connection with the operation of a cogeneration qualifying facility (QF) by one of its large customers, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

At its first-ever annual meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, GISB also was gently chided and commended by James J. Hoecker of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC): "I submit to you that GISB must not, in an attempt to please everyone, set standards at the lowest common denominator.