Fortnightly Magazine - May 1 1996

Appeals Court Upholds Retail Sales by QF

A New York appeals court has upheld a 1994 decision by the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) authorizing a qualifying cogeneration facility (QF) to make retail sales to certain industrial customers in the service territory of a retail electric utility. The PSC had authorized Sithe/ Independence Power Partners L.P. (em developers of a 1040-megawatt natural gas fired QF (em to sell electricity to steam host customers Alcan Rolled Products Co. and Liberty Paperboard L.P. See, Re Sithe/Independence Power Partners L.P., 155 PUR4th 149 (N.Y.P.S.C. 1994).

Columbia Gas System Expands into New Era

Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. and Columbia Gulf Transmission Co., the interstate natural gas pipeline subsidiaries of The Columbia Gas System, Inc., have a new chief executive officer (CEO), Catherine Good Abbott, as well as plans for an ambitious expansion. The project and the CEO mark the beginning of a new era for a once-troubled pipeline system that recently emerged from bankruptcy.

Off Peak

Will deregulation spell the end of utility philanthropy? Not necessarily so, according to a new study

of charitable giving at 11 investor-owned electric utilities from across the country.

Of those companies surveyed, one pegged its charitable contributions budget as a percent of revenue. Some indicated that they

followed the "utility average" of giving 0.5 percent of income before taxes. (The national average for all companies is 0.9 percent.) Four utilities reported donations at or above that figure.

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