The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on July 16 upheld Order 636, which required unbundling of natural gas pipeline sales and transportation services, but remanded at least six issues to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for further explanation (United Distr. Cos. v. FERC, No. 92-1485, July 16, 1996).
With President Clinton and the Department of Energy (DOE) staunchly opposed, the House of Representatives was expected to return September 4 from August recess to take up its version of a nuclear waste disposal bill that passed in the Senate on July 31 by a vote of 63-37.
Senate bill 1936 and its amendments call for a temporary storage facility at the Nevada nuclear test site near Yucca Mountain before the end of 1999.
"Utility mentality" has become synonymous with a clinging dependence upon regulation to protect an organization from risk and competition. It also denotes momentum planning and management (em that is, using past performance to project future performance. This way of thinking made sense when companies could count on regulators to shield them from market forces and competition.
The Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has issued a preliminary order allowing Sprint Communications to enter the local-exchange market without committing to a lengthy plan to build a telecommunications network.
Southwestern Public Service Co. (SPS) and Public Service Co. of Colorado (PSCC) have promised to credit Texas ratepayers a minimum of $3 million in annual bill savings (em one part of the settlement proposed on July 8 in their merger case before the Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC). According to SPS, the proposed settlement represents an agreement reached between it, the staff of the Texas PUC, and five intervenors in the merger case.
The PUC's administrative law judge has suspended the proceeding so the various parties can finalize details.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (URC) has given the Indiana legislature a brief summary report in advance of its final energy report on competition.
long-term PBR mechanism for distribution service only.
Massachusetts is moving forward with electric and gas competition on all fronts. Environmental Futures, Inc., the program administrator for Massachusetts Electric Co.'s (ME's) "Choice: New England" pilot, has issued requests for proposals for up to 100 million kilowatt-hours of electricity so that electric suppliers around the country may compete to service about 10,000 current ME customers. The one-year voluntary pilot, which begins in December, will let residential and small commercial customers choose their electric supplier.
Seven electric utilities in the Northwest have formed an independent system operator (ISO), called "IndeGo," to coordinate their electric transmission. IndeGo will operate as a single control area, responsible for the operation of transmission-grid facilities carrying 230 kilovolts or more that are owned or directly controlled by the member utilities.
A Moody's Investors Service report, Moody's Assesses Risk in Utility Combinations and Spin-Offs, finds that mergers and acquisitions (M&A) do not mitigate the higher business risk posed by electric deregulation. The report also claims that financial risk only declines to the extent that management uses merger-related savings to reduce leverage.
Utilities pursue mergers to boost shareholder returns; regulators approve mergers to secure benefits for customers, such as lower rates. Bondholders run a distant third.