PECO Energy Co. has asked the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission to approve its securitization request and reject a recommendation by an administrative law judge that the PUC not allow PECO to recover stranded costs from ratepayers.
On Jan. 22, PECO asked that it be allowed under the state's new electric competition act to refinance $3.6 billion of its electric generation assets through securitization. But on April 14, Judge Louis Cocheres recommended against the proposal. (See Pa PUC Docket No. R- 00973877.)
But PECO called the recommendation proof of a "fundamental misunderstanding" of the Electric Competition Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Tom Ridge on Dec. 3, 1996. The utility said the ALJ's ruling applied a standard of review of "minimally controversial," that is not set forth in the act, which effectively gives opposing parties veto power over securitization requests. In its exceptions, PECO said "a mere claim of controversy should not be sufficient to frustrate the act and foreclose the use of the securitization process in this case."