Toledo Edison

MAINE YANKEE PRUDENCE. The Maine Public Utilities

Commission will investigate the prudence of Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co.'s decision to close its nuclear plant permanently.

The PUC said Oct. 22 that unrecovered investment in Maine Yankee combined with the loss in plant value could cause additional stranded assets for plant owners Central Maine Power Co., Bangor Hydro-Electric Co., and Maine Public Service Co. If imprudent action is found, the PUC said it would take steps to ensure that Maine's electric ratepayers do not bear any related costs.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently gave final approval to a two-year experiment to track electricity as it travels over transmission lines (Docket No. ER97-697-000).

The experimental program, approved March 25, finalizes work proposed by a group of seven companies working independently on the General Agreement on Parallel Paths (GAPP). Other GAPP members had chosen to disband the formal GAPP committee in 1995.

The program calls for information on transmission paths to be made available electronically to all participants.

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission has approved a rate plan for Toledo Edison Co. and Cleveland Electric Illuminating, under which the two electric utilities will freeze both base rates and fuel charges and agree to reduce their present investment in generating station and related assets.

The plan will take effect only if Centerior Energy Corp., the holding company for both utilities, is successful in its proposed merger with Ohio Edison Co. (The approved plan is similar in many ways to one the commission had authorized for Ohio Edison in 1995 (em see Case No.

John L. Carter was elected to Tucson Electric Power Co.'s board of directors. He replaces J. Burgess Winter, who resigned. Carter recently retired as executive v.p. and CFO of Burr-Brown Corp.

Madison Gas and Electric Co. promoted Terry A. Hanson to v.p. and treasurer. Hanson, who joined the company in 1981, had been treasurer.

Connecticut Natural Gas Corp. promoted two executives and hired a third.

The Ohio Supreme Court has concluded its review of the municipalization dispute between Toledo Edison Co., an electric utility, and the City of Clyde. The court said that a city ordinance passed on January 17, 1995, seeking to force the utility to stop providing service within municipal boundaries, violated state law in attempting to accomplish the municipalization of Toledo Edison's facilities without the approval of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

Ohio Edison Company and Centerior Energy Corp. announced an agreement September 17 on a tax-free, stock-for-stock merger to form a new holding company, FirstEnergy Corp., worth about $4.8 billion, based on stock prices that closed several days earlier.

The news came a month after two other merger deals were announced in mid-August: 1) Atlantic Energy, Inc. and Delmarva Power & Light Co. ($2.2 billion), and 2) Houston Industries Inc. and NorAm Energy Corp. ($3.8 billion). NorAm is the nation's third-largest U.S. natural gas utility.

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission has reaffirmed its "recommendation" (issued April 11 in a rate case order) that Toledo Edison Co. and Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. (subsidiaries of Centerior Energy Corp.) should write down $1.25 billion in assets over the next five years to avoid the danger of even greater commission-mandated cost disallowances.

The PUC rejected arguments that it should have ordered the write-down directly.

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has reaffirmed an order issued on May 8 in which it struck down a tariff proposed by Toledo Edison Co. that would have barred resale of service by commercial customers. The PUC rejected allegations by Toledo Edison that the ruling constituted a breach of its duty to regulate electric service to end users. It declined to regulate disputes that it characterized as occurring between landlords and tenants, where the landlord is not operating as a public utility. See, Brooks, et al. v. Toledo Edison Co., Case No.

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has struck down a prohibition against resale of electric service imposed by Toledo Edison Co. on owners and operators of commercial property. The PUC said that the case and other similar actions had begun as civil actions by landlords to collect back rent where disputes arose over the energy portion of monthly payments by tenants.

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has turned down a request by the City of Clyde to oust Toledo Edison Co. as a supplier of electric service for city residents in favor of municipal service.