Michael Baly, American Gas Association president and CEO, will chair the National Energy Foundation. He replaces Richard Lawson, president of the National Mining Association. Arthur Wiese, Jr., public affairs v.p. of the American Petroleum Institute, was elected vice chair.
Attorney Karen A. Tomcala was promoted to the staff of James J. Hoecker at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Previously, Tomcala practiced in the FERC's electric rates and corporate regulation section.
The Florida Supreme Court has allowed GTE Florida, Inc.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plans to take its first-ever private company partner to convert the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant. The two-unit plant, near Hollywood, AL, will likely be finished as a gas-fired facility. The decision not to complete the units as nuclear plants ended a 28-year policy of nuclear construction at TVA.
South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. began operating its $411-million, 385-Mw Orangeburg County plant January 15.
Pending the approval of state regulators, Puget Sound Power & Light Co. and Washington Energy Co.
3) improvements to network infrastructure in the state.
The PSB added that NYNEX had failed to take advantage of falling local-exchange access charges
(a primary reason for the current hike in local service rates) to cut its long-distance calling rates
The New York Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved a plan, "NaturalChoice," allowing customers of Long Island Lighting Co. (LILCO) to purchase natural gas from a qualified supplier of their choice. LILCO is the first company in New York, and one of the first in the nation, to open its gas system to competition.
LILCO's commercial, industrial, and residential gas customers may now choose to purchase gas directly from brokers or to continue purchasing from LILCO.
The Florida Supreme Court has upheld a decision by the state commission (PSC) to test the cost-effectiveness of demand-side management (DSM) programs for the state's four largest investor-owned electric utilities by measuring the impact of the programs on rates for all consumers, whether or not they participate in DSM programs.
It held the Rate Impact Measure (RIM) test consistent with state law directives to avoid discrimination between rate classes for DSM initiatives (em more so than the Total Resource Cost (TRC) test used alone.
The Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (OMPA) and the Public Utilities Board (PUB) of the City of Brownsville, TX, have announced their intent to form a municipal power pool spanning four states. OMPA is a full and partial requirements wholesale supplier to 35 municipal electric systems in Oklahoma. PUB owns coal- and gas-fired generation plants. The two entities offer a combined supply resource of about 800 megawatts, but rely on the transmission system of Central and South West (CSW).
The Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) has rejected a call by its staff, the state's consumer advocate, and customers of Missouri Gas Energy to eliminate the latter's purchased-gas adjustment clause (PGA) in favor of traditional rate-case analysis.
Fitch Investors Service has developed guidelines to rate electric power marketers The firm estimates this "fastest-growing segment" of the changing electric industry could handle as much as $200 billion in annual sales once full deregulation occurs.
According to Fitch, an investment-grade credit rating for power marketers (em "BBB" or better (em would expand the potential amount and scope of their business and help them avoid restrictive counterparty limits as electricity is traded among firms.
