VIRGINIA QUESTIONS NUCLEAR WASTE FUND PAYMENTS TO FEDS

A number of major environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, have filed a joint comment with three utilities (em Public Service Electric and Gas Co., Atlantic Electric Co., and The United Illuminating Co. (em concerning the FERC's environmental impact statement (EIS) in its open-access electric transmission Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR).

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a settlement involving Transwestern Pipeline Co. (TP) that puts both the pipeline and its customers at risk for relinquished pipeline capacity, and ties future rate increase to inflation. The settlement puts TP and its customers at risk for the 457 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/day) of capacity that Southern California Gas Co. (SCG) will give up starting November 1, 1996. Firm customers will provide a short-term subsidy through a cost-sharing formula for the first five years.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has freed power marketers from reporting business and financial arrangements involving those who buy, sell, and transmit power (Docket Nos. ER94-1384-001, et al.).A November 8, 1994, order had required power marketers, as a condition of market-based rate approval, to report business and financial arrangements involving the marketer (or an affiliate of the marketer) and the entities that buy power from, sell power to, or transmit power on behalf of the marketer (69 FERC at 61,694).

The Southwest Regional Transmission Association (SWRTA) has filed amended bylaws with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), incorporating two FERC conditions: 1) comparable transmission service, and 2) a single regional transmission plan. To achieve comparability, each transmitting member subject to FERC jurisdiction under sections 205 and 206 of the Federal Power Act will file comparable transmission service tariffs with the FERC.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a companion order to its open-access Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Docket No. ER93-540-003). The new order offers guidelines for presiding judges and participants in pending open-access cases that concern public utilities' offers of nondiscriminatory services.

Does it make good business sense to offer a service that brings in considerable revenue but virtually no profit?

In the past, special circumstances explained why local distribution companies (LDCs) sold natural gas to customers without earning a profit. But circumstances have changed.

Does it make good business sense to offer a service that brings in considerable revenue but virtually no profit?

In the past, special circumstances explained why local distribution companies (LDCs) sold natural gas to customers without earning a profit. But circumstances have changed.

executive director of Toward Utility Rate Normalization (TURN), a consumer advocacy group, has asked California Gov. Pete Wilson for the vacant seat on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has filed comments to support the "majority proposal" by the California Public Utilities Commission on deregulating the electric utility industry, which calls for formation of a wholesale power pool.

SDG&E noted that while a key element of the proposal involved creating an independent system operator, the company would go further and set up a regional transmission company to own the grid.