The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled that federal antitrust laws provide no remedy for complaints by a qualifying cogeneration facility that an electric utility was impermissibly curtailing purchases under its power purchase contract with the QF.

It said that Pennsylvania's recently enacted electric restructuring law "comes too late" to make the QF's complaint a valid one.

Schuylkill Energy Resources Inc., owner and operator of an anthracite coal refuse-fired QF in Shenandoah, Pa., had filed an antitrust claim against Pennsylvania Power and Light Co.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has approved the merger of Interstate Power Co., IES Industries Inc., and WPL Holdings Inc., joining Illinois, which has also signed off on the deal. (See, Headlines, this issue, p. 21.)

The commission estimated total merger-related savings of $592.1 million to $648.1 million over 10 years. Minnesota ratepayers could save nearly $15.5 million in electric costs and $6.4 million in gas over the same period.

South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that state regulators erred in authorizing an electric utility to serve an established industrial customer of an electric cooperative.

The commission had found that the Northwestern Public Service Co. could replace Northern Electric Cooperative as the electric supplier for Hub City Inc. Hub had purchased an industrial property containing manufacturing facilities served by the utility and a plant addition served by the co-op.

California regulators have issued a series of important rulings this spring as they continue to move forward with restructuring the state's electric utility industry.

On May 6, the California Public Utilities Commission accelerated the pace of its industry reform by ordering all electric utilities in the state to allow direct access to alternate electricity suppliers for all customers on Jan. 1, 1998.

Sound bites from state and federal regulators.

Appliance Repair Business. Responding to complaints from unregulated providers, New York rules that natural gas LDCs must run their appliance repair services through a separate subsidiary. PSC terms its existing policies "anachronistic" and finds that subsidies for appliance repair services are inappropriate. Case 93-G-0804, April 4, 1997 (N.Y.P.S.C.).

DSM Program Design. Michigan appeals court says state PSC exceeded authority and "impermissibly interfered with management decisions" of Detroit Edison Co.

Marking the second time it had approved a union between an electric utility and a natural gas pipeline company since issuance of its December 1996 merger policy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved the merger of Duke Power Co. with PanEnergy Corp.

In its 21-page order issued May 28, the FERC found the merger consistent with the public interest based on an examination of the effect it would have on rates, competition and regulation (Docket No. EC97-13-000).

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted two certificates for natural gas pipeline projects in the Southeastern U.S. One certificate went to Southern Natural Gas Co. for construction of a controversial pipeline to serve two municipal customers; a second was issued to Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. for the largest single expansion of its pipeline and storage system.

The FERC on May 28 voted 5-0 to grant a certificate to Southern Natural Gas Co. to construct approximately 118 miles of natural gas pipeline to serve two municipal customers.

Douglas W.

Feds prefer legislative solution for now, but warn of bid-rigging, cartel behavior later on, after deregulation.

One of the nation's top antitrust officials told the House Judiciary Committee in June that moves toward utility deregulation should focus first on open access to the transmission grid (em and then resolve that problem through rulemaking or legislation, not antitrust enforcement.

"Antitrust is probably not the best way to address access," said Robert Pitofsky, Federal Trade Commission chair.

Does a monopolist aim to maximize profit, or simply to hide from the antitrust laws?

AT&T's absolute monopoly in the switched long-distance telephone market ended in 1976 when MCI rolled out its Execunet service. Twenty years later economists still question whether AT&T can influence the market price of long-distance services.

Recent empirical studies are split on the question, sometimes finding AT&T has considerable market power, and sometimes finding it has none.

It appears that economists studying the long-distance industry may be misinterpreting the historical record.