The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that Minnegasco may recover revenues it had lost when the state public utility commission improperly cut rates to recognize goodwill supposedly contributed by ratepayers to an unregulated affiliate.

An intermediate appeals court had agreed that the rate cut was improper, but had believed that the rule against retroactive rate making had barred any commission move to recoup the money for the utility.

The case involved an unregulated utility affiliate that performed appliance repair service.

An Illinois appeals court has questioned the idea that Commonwealth Edison Co. faces a higher degree of risk than other utilities (and thus deserves a higher return on equity), but also has affirmed the "used and useful" status of the company's Byron 2 and Braidwood 1 & 2 nuclear units, as approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission in a 1995 rate case order, which had helped justify a $303-million increase in annual rates.

Sound bites from state and federal regulators.

Area Code Overlays. Colorado adopts overlay plan to ease telephone-number shortage in Denver area, and will introduce a single new area code over the area served by 303 code. PUC says the approved plan meets FCC requirements to ensure new area codes do not disadvantage new providers. Docket No. 97A-103T, July 29, 1997 (Colo.P.U.C.).

Water Main Extensions. Interpreting a recent policy statement, state regulators approve proposal by Pennsylvania-America Water Co.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission invited industry representatives to Washington, D.C., in July to talk about the electric utility industry's implementation of OASIS, or open-access, same-time information system, which is used to monitor and schedule electric transmission capacity.

It ended up with an earful about problems on the on-line system.

Gerry Cauley, of the industry's volunteer "How Working Group," said, "Overall, the OASIS does provide comparable access," and the system is seeing reservation activity at expected levels.

With benefits unclear, PUCs will "go slow."

California, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont have given customers the right to choose their electric providers.

Other states are considering similar legislation.

In Congress, U.S. representatives Schaefer (R-Colo.), Markey (D-Mass.), DeLay (R-Tex.), and U.S. Sen. Bumpers (D-Ark.) and others have slapped bills on the table that would give choice to electric customers on a national scale.

Campaign for a Prosperous Georgia has asked the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to reconsider and vacate orders by the Securities and Exchange Commission allowing Southern Co. to move forward with investments in foreign companies.

CPG claims that the SEC should have denied the utility's request to acquire foreign utilities using financing and guarantees of more than 50 percent of retained earnings. The company claimed that such acquisitions violate "safe harbor" limits. The filing points to the recent agreement by Southern Co.

Six out of eight members of the New York Power Pool have asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve a request to provide electricity, installed capacity and ancillary services at market-based rates in the state's restructured market.

Included in the Aug. 15 filing are market power analyses for individual members and a plan for monitoring the proposed New York ISO. According to the utilities, the analyses demonstrate that the market under the proposed industry structure will be workably competitive. They also support the market-based rate proposal.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a final policy statement on its intended approach to nuclear plant licensees as the electric industry moves toward greater competition.

While the NRC has concluded that its regulations can address future changes, it is considering revising its financial and assurance requirements for decommissioning funds.

A new report from the Department of Energy may confirm what many in the electric industry have said all along: That while stranded costs could dissolve some short-term gains from competition, in the long term, consumers will still come out ahead.

"I'm surprised and delighted that the same EIA, which once wrongly predicted price hikes from natural gas deregulation, now confirms what we've been saying all along," said Rep. Tom Bliley (R-Va.).

Restructuring of the electric industry "is not an impediment" for the natural gas industry, according to Paul Holtberg of the Gas Research Institute. Just make sure to distinguish between restructuring's evolution, or transition period, and the post-transition period, he adds.

The just-released 1998 edition of GRI's "Baseline Projection of U.S.