As long as we're talking about "stranded costs," why not consider the "unearned gains" accrued during construction? Namely (em the allowance for funds used during construction (AFUDC) representing capitalized financing costs that built up to such high levels back in the 1970s, during the peak of the last construction cycle for baseload electric generating plants.

One can argue the policy: Did those 70's-era rules on AFUDC extract unwarranted economic rents for nuclear construction? Good or bad, those costs are sunk.

The Wyoming Supreme Court has ruled that the state Public Service Commission (PSC) acted outside of its authority when, in 1994, it directed U S WEST Communications, Inc., to sell a local telephone exchange to an unsuccessful bidder rather than to another company with whom the LEC had already contracted for the sale.

Earlier, the PSC had required upgrades in rural exchanges throughout the state, and had endorsed a plan to sell certain local exchanges to independent telephone companies in the public interest.

In a case reviewing standards for integrated resource planning (IRP) set out in the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct), the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has recognized that changes in the natural gas industry, combined with an evolution toward competition (both upstream and inside the city gate), "will make gas IRP a less-necessary commission function in order to insure least-cost gas service."

The PUC said most of its existing regulations were consistent with the federal standards; however, it rejected the EPAct standards regarding guaranteed profitability an

The North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) has granted a final certificate to Frontier Utilities of North Carolina, Inc., to provide natural gas local distribution service to four previously unserved counties. It found Frontier's proposed rates reasonable when compared to alternate energy sources in the four-county area, though somewhat higher than those proposed by Piedmont Natural Gas Co., Inc., an established LDC that had also applied for the franchise.

Frontier is a new company formed specifically to serve the four counties.

According to the Arizona Court of Appeals, the state Corporation Commission has violated an agreement with U S WEST Communications, Inc., governing the spinoff of the company's Yellow Pages publishing business as an unregulated enterprise.

The court agreed with U S WEST that the commission erred when it imputed $60.684 million in directory publishing profits to the carrier's regulated operations (em a move that had captured all profits earned by the publishing company above the rate of return of 11.4 percent authorized for regulated services.

The Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) has directed Consumers Power Co. to scale back any residential rate subsidies. The order appeared during a review of a proposed settlement in a series of applications to increase rates, revise depreciation methods, and offer discounts to industrial customers.

The PSC added, however, that the company should not try to eliminate the entire subsidy in a single step.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) has authorized three new telecommunications companies to provide local exchange service in competition with existing carriers U S WEST Communications, Inc. and GTE Northwest, Inc.

Citing heightened competition and lower earnings in the state's local exchange telephone market, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has frozen price caps for local exchange carriers (LECs) for most noncompetitive local services, and has suspended the 5-percent "x-factor" services for an intermediate level of competition.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved a proposal by Sierra Pacific Power Co. to construct a 345-kilovolt overhead transmission line, but not simply to gain access to low-cost power. Instead, the CPUC appeared to emphasize concern over reliability.

Sierra Pacific, involved in merger plans with The Washington Water Power Co., had cited access to low-cost power from the Bonneville Power Administration as an important reason to build the transmission line.

On May 31, 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued its Statement of Policy in Docket No. PL94-4-000, Pricing Policy for New and Existing Facilities Constructed by Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines.1 In that decision, the FERC sought to provide upfront rate certainty, thereby giving pipelines and shippers a firm basis for making decisions on large-scale investments.

But is that objective realistic?