The North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) has rejected a request by proponents of a plan to provide electricity and process steam for a large industrial electric user in the state for a declaration that the plan would not subject the participants to regulation as public utilities under state law.
Under the proposal, National Spinning Co., Inc., a current purchaser of over $3 million in annual industrial electric services from Carolina Power & Light Co., would build facilities to gasify wood waste, produce steam, and generate up to seven megawatts of electricity in partnership with an energy consulting company. National Spinning would have title to the gasifier and the turbine generator; the consulting firm would own the boiler and operate the entire facility. The NCUC said that the proposed project would not fall under the self-generation exemption to public utility status. It ruled that while the proposed activities would not render National Spinning a natural gas utility under state law, either party to the partnership might be considered a steam or electric utility. Re National Spinning Co., Inc., Docket No. SP-100, Sub 7, Apr. 22, 1996 (N.C.U.C.).
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