Telecom Reform: New Congress, New Bill

Here we go again. Last year, the 103rd Congress failed to pass the much-promised and highly touted telecommunications reform legislation aimed at bringing the antiquated Communications Act of 1934 into the 21st century. Now it's up to the 104th Congress, and both parties have draft legislation ready to go.

In February, Sen.

Perspective

We stand on the threshold of a new era in the electric services industry. I deliberately avoid the term "electric utility industry," because the future is not limited to the vertically integrated monopoly utility. Many utilities may already perceive the first cracks in their armor: nonutility generators (NUGs), self-generators, and energy service companies.

Competition is not in the industry's future; it is here now. Further, competition and market forces are not going to magically disappear.

Mass. Utilities Settle Stranded Investment Issues

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has accepted a settlement agreement between Massachusetts Electric Co. (ME), the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), and Boston Edison Co., which decides stranded investment and wheeling issues arising from ME's loss of MBTA as a retail customer (Docket No. ER94-129-000). The case arose in 1991, when the Massachusetts legislature designated MBTA a "domestic electric utility," allowing MBTA to leave ME. MBTA then signed a wholesale supply agreement with Boston Edison.

Northern Border Plans Expansion

Northern Border Pipeline Co. has filed for federal approval to extend its pipeline system 218 miles deeper into the Midwest, at a cost of $370 million. Sponsors say the project could be in service by November 1997.

Consumers Power Targets "At-Risk" Customers

Consumers Power Co. has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve a Special Competitive Service (SCS) rate to help retain industrial customers who threaten to leave the system. The SCS rate would be offered to customers who can obtain their power elsewhere and to new customers considering locating or expanding facilities in Michigan. "[A]pproval of this rate would grant Consumers Power the ability to negotiate special contracts with certain `at risk' large industrial customers which have competitive energy supply options," says Michael G.

LG&E to Buy Hadson Corp.

LG&E Energy Corp. plans to reenter the natural gas marketing business by purchasing Dallas-based Hadson Corp. for $143 million. The deal includes all of Hadson's gas marketing operations, including 1,300 miles of gas-gathering systems, gas transmission systems, and gas processing and storage systems. Hadson's operations are located primarily in New Mexico, West Texas, Oklahoma, and Montana.

The two companies reached a definitive agreement, but the sale is subject to regulatory approval. The agreement marks LG&E Energy's second venture into natural gas marketing.

NARUC Considers PUHCA Reform, GRI Funding

At the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) winter committee meetings in Washington, DC, the executive committee passed a resolution that Congress should not hold hearings on reforms to the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) until the Securities and Exchange Commission has completed its investigation on the implications of repeal or substantial modification.

Electricity Futures Go West

The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) has decided to seek approval of two electricity futures contracts in the West. One will be based on delivery at the California/

Oregon border; the other on delivery at the Palo Verde generating plant in Arizona. NYMEX hopes to have the contracts in place by the fourth quarter of this year.

R.

Mailbag

An article by Renz Jennings et al. (Jan. 15, 1995), "DSM Programs Must Target Consumers, Not Just Technology," unintentionally implies that information from the national Database on Energy Efficiency Programs (DEEP) project "is not always available to the program analysts involved in designing, implementing, and evaluating programs conducted by their own organization." Nothing could be further from the truth.

Mailbag

In his article "Making Hydro Sustainable" (Jan. 1, 1995), Thomas Russo forgets an important consideration in any large-scale engineering project: the social impact. The construction and commissioning of large-scale hydroelectric generating facilities have always required large capital investments and produced widespread impacts on the ecosystem. These impacts have generally been fairly obvious and carefully examined.