A Georgia-based consumer advocacy group, the Campaign for a Prosperous Georgia (CPG), has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to halt a move by The Southern Company to use up to 100 percent of its retained earnings for a $2.75 billion acquisition of 80 percent of the Asian utility company, Consolidated Electric Power of Asia.

Among other claims, CPG wants the SEC to reconsider an April 1996 decision that granted an exemption to The Southern Company from the provisions of the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA).

Worries in Congress.

Having decided that California's three major investor-owned utilities (IOUs) exert greater market power in generation and transmission than the IOUs had let on in detailed studies filed last summer, but finding no purpose in asking for a second round of hefty documents, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has decided to explore options for mitigating such market power before approving the proposal by the IOUs (Southern California Edison Co., Pacific Gas & Electric Co., and San Diego Gas and Electric Co.) to form a Power Exchange (PX) and Independent system Operator (ISO).

Dakota Gas Plant. FERC reverses law judge, ok's settlement on rates for synthetic natural gas produced at the Dakota Gasification plant. Commissioner James Hoecker terms result "unhappy," citing jurisdictional constraints: "I feel we are supporting a resolution in this case that otherwise would not be in the public interest." Dkt. Nos. RP93-100-000 et al., Dec. 18, 1996.

Reactor Designs. NRC certifies two new designs for nuclear reactors: ASEA Brown Boveri-Combustion Engineering System 80+, and General Electric Nuclear Energy Advanced Boiling Water Reactor.

Bonneville Power "Subscriptions" Seen Among Sticky Issues

A panel of governors in the Pacific Northwest expects to issue a plan this month that proposes a restructured Bonneville Power Administration, primed for the regional free-market electric economy.

The panel would act on a steering committee report that resolved pressing energy matters in the Northwest. But the committee report left open other issues that some say could leave the BPA's future in doubt.

Let's hope that by now we all prefer market solutions to government mandates. Markets are generally more efficient and equitable. Recent experiences with deregulation for airlines and telecommunications have vindicated Adam Smith's notion that the "invisible hand" can prove superior to regulation.

Unfortunately, this knowledge offers little comfort today to natural gas pipelines (em even to those companies not saddled with a surplus of transportation capacity.

The eight utility

owners of the 560-megawatt Connecticut Yankee nuclear plant have decided to shut down the facility rather than make expensive repairs estimated at over $100 million, after having estimated plant costs at five cents per kilowatt-hour, or about 20-50 percent above the cost of replacement power.

Northeast Utilities, a 49-percent owner, said it would lay off about two-thirds of the plant's 322 employees. Other plant owners include Boston Edison, New England Electric System, the Cambridge Light Co., and Eastern Utilities Associates. t

Lori A.

Nevada Power Co. (NP) has announced a tentative agreement for the largest rate reduction in its history, reflecting lower purchased power prices, lower overall fuel costs, and improvements in efficiency.

Idaho Power Co. (IP) has joined with Intermountain Gas Co., U S WEST, and TCI Cable in the Joint Utilities Trench Program, which places electric, gas, and telecommunications, wires, cables, pipes, and conduits into a single trench rather than individual trenches for each service provider.

The arrangement applies to new residential and commercial subdivisions, apartment complexes, and residential services. By using a single, joint trench, developers expect to reduce overall installation time for electric, gas, and telephone service in a new subdivision by as much as 70 percent.

Southern California Gas Co. (SCG) has begun using monthly forecasts to set prices for its core commercial and industrial natural gas customers, ending the practice of forecasting gas costs more than one year in advance and then computing the bill using a projected, annual weighted-average cost of gas (WACOG).

Monthly gas pricing is expected for residential customers when the California PUC reaches a decision in SCG's Biennial Cost Allocation Proceeding.

Commonwealth Electric Co. (CE) has postponed an electric retail pilot program for five industrial customers, fearing that market prices could run 5-percent higher than what the participants pay under regulation. Last summer, CE had predicted that program participants could save 15 percent off their electric bills.

CE and its consultant, Koch Energy Services Inc., attributed the jump in market prices to concern about possible power shortages follwing a shutdown of four nuclear power plants in New England.