The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (URC) has denied an Indiana Gas Co., Inc. request for rate recovery of environmental costs associated with three of its instate manufactured gas plant (MGP) sites. The URC found that the local distribution company (LDC) had assumed the associated environmental liability in purchasing the properties, and that the costs were not related to providing gas service to current ratepayers.
The Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) has reaffirmed its earlier approval of special manufacturing contracts submitted by Detroit Edison Co. to supply power to Chrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co., and General Motors Corp. Opponents had argued that the PSC erred by approving the price discounts while deferring consideration of their rate treatment as well as their effect on existing competitive programs.
demand-side management (DSM) costs claimed by Potomac Electric Power Co. in a recent rate case. While agreeing that Potomac had failed to justify 100-percent recovery of its DSM costs, the court remanded the case to the PSC for a better explanation of why 25 percent represents an appropriate amount for the disallowance.
After reviewing gas supply and related matters as part of a general rate case for Centra Gas Ontario, Inc., the Ontario Energy Board has directed its technical staff to develop a mechanism to separate the utility's commodity sales from its transportation and distribution functions. The Board said the move was necessary because competition in the sale of natural gas and the introduction of indexed pricing had made regulation of the utility's existing tariffed services difficult.
The North Carolina Utilities Commission (UC) has approved a North Carolina Power Co. plan to use its special self-generation deferral rate to persuade a large industrial customer to use utility supply for a planned plant expansion rather than existing self generation facilities. The UC rejected allegations that the discount to the Weyerhauser paper plant in Plymouth, NC, must pass a stricter analysis than past cases involving rate discounting guidelines because it applies to new load.
The North Carolina Utilities Commission (UC) has completed its latest biennial proceeding to establish rates and contract terms for utility power purchases from qualifying facilities (QFs).
Genuine competition - with greater efficiency and bona fide service improvements - is not unwelcome at most utilities. But spurious competition, with inconsistencies among players in the rules of the game, is a cause of frustration for utilities and customers alike.
Regulation in the natural gas industry is evolving rapidly. And on the electric side, the current flurry of activity is likely to draw on recent gas industry experience and move even faster.
"Green pricing," at typical rates of customer participation, could expand demand for renewable energy beyond current levels by more than an order of magnitude, pushing down production costs for energy resources preferred by environmental advocates. And just as important, that expanded demand would occur outside of the regulatory framework (em matching capacity to customer needs and wants.In practice, the utility asks customers to pay rate premiums to fund the production or purchase of renewable resources.