Robert Blohm and Professor William Hogan recently traded op-ed letters in the Wall Street Journal on the "poolco" and "bilateral" models for wholesale power markets:

Writing first, Blohm (an advisor to Ontario's Macdonald Committee on electric competition) praised bilateral trading (individual buyers and sellers agree on price).

Motivated by numerous consumer complaints regarding substantial, unexpected increases in bills for natural gas service, the New Mexico Public Utility Commission has fined Public Service Company of New Mexico, finding that the utility knowingly understated gas cost data in prior adjustment clause filings to avoid commission review of an ongoing gas price crisis.

The commission suspended the $2.2-million fine, however, in light of its decision to prevent PSNM from collecting more than $1.5 million in purchased gas revenues associated with the understated gas cost projection.

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission has refused to modify an earlier ruling that required telecommunications local-exchange carriers to permit their special-contract customers to reexamine their negotiated rates to look for cost-saving alternatives once competition is established in the local market.

The Ohio Telecommunications Industry Association had asked the commission to reconsider the so-called "fresh look" provisions, issued Nov.

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission has reaffirmed its approved guidelines for the provision of "Conjunctive Electric Service" by utilities in the state, rejecting arguments by consumer advocates that the plan won't do much for residential customers.

The guidelines, first approved on Christmas Eve last year, had required the utilities to permit customers of all types to aggregate their loads to derive greater energy savings than they could achieve individually. See, Re

Conjunctive Electric Service Guidelines, Case No. 96-4006-COI, Dec. 24, 1996, 174 PUR4th 96, (Ohio P.U.C.).

In a series of rulings regarding Wisconsin Electric Power Co.,

the Wisconsin Public Service Commission has directed the

utility to reduce electric charges and natural gas service rates.

In a similar ruling, the commission also has authorized Wisconsin Public Service Corp. to boost rates for natural gas, while trimming rates for electric service.

Wisconsin Electric. The commission ordered Wisconsin Electric to cut electric rates by $7.383 million. Rate of return on common equity was set at 10.8 percent.

As part of its ongoing efforts to reform the state's electric utility industry, the New York Public Service Commission has approved a multi-utility, retail-access pilot program for commercial farms and food processors.

Dairylea Cooperative Inc., an agricultural cooperative with 3,500 members and affiliates in the state, submitted the proposal, one of six received by the commission under its recent restructuring initiative.

Regulators in Maine, Vermont and New York have approved the proposed merger of two of the country's largest local exchange carriers, NYNEX and Bell Atlantic Corp.

All three states imposed similar conditions on their approval designed to protect the interests of ratepayers in the region. The conditions also address concern over how the merger might affect competition in the local exchange market, a high-profile regulatory effort already under way in each state.

Vermont and Maine.

Sound bites from state and federal regulators.

Coal Tar Cleanup. Minnesota court affirms ruling by state regulators requiring Interstate Power Co.'s natural gas customers to contribute to costs for cleaning up the company's manufactured gas plants, since the plants were "used and useful" when the pollution occurred (though the wastes were not deemed hazardous until 1980). No. C1096-1558, Feb. 18, 1997 (Minn.Ct.App.).

AT&T's New Market. Washington allows AT&T Communications of the Pacific Northwest Inc.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved the merger of Public Service Co. of Colorado and Southwestern Public Service Co. to create "New Century Energies" (Docket Nos. EC96-2-000 and EC96-2-001).

In a separate order, the FERC has approved the open access transmission tariff for Southwestern Public Service, Public Service Co. of Colorado, and its subsidiary, Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power Co. (Docket No. ER96-2572-000).

Public Service Co. of Colorado and Southwestern Public Service Co. had filed an unopposed settlement agreement.

The Heritage Foundation has released its second report in a series on electric deregulation, aimed at capturing the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill now holding hearings on proposed legislation to restructure the electric industry.

The new report, Electricity Deregulation: Separating Fact From Fiction in the Debate Over Stranded Cost Recovery, by Adam D. Thierer, concludes that lavish stranded cost recovery is not justified, and that the "sky will not fall" if stranded cost recovery is limited or denied.