Today's critics decry stranded costs, yet fail to cover their tracks.

Many of today's most vociferous critics of stranded cost recovery were once among the most ardent supporters of the nuclear plants they now disavow.

Back in the '70s, when electric utilities and regulators laid out their long-term plans, nuclear power played a leading role, and American industry largely concurred. Now, however, 20 years later, the business sector sings a new tune. "I told you so," the refrain goes.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has taken new steps in its ongoing effort to restructure the state's electric industry, proposing regulations to govern customer choice of energy suppliers and securitization of stranded costs.

The PUC's new actions on retail choice and stranded costs were designed to comply with state legislation passed last December, known as the Electricity Generation Customer Choice and Competition Act. See, 66 Pa.C.S. secs. 2801 et seq.

In fact, the PUC began last January to implement the new state legislation.

The Florida Public Service Commission has authorized Florida Power and Light Co. to set up a two-year green pricing research and development project under a settlement agreement between the utility and the state Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation.

The order allows FP&L to recover from all ratepayers up to $475,000 in administrative costs associated with the experiment. The commission had approved the program as proposed by the utility in an earlier ruling, but reviewed the matter further because of a complaint by LEAF.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission has directed U S WEST Communications Inc. to reduce rates by $97.4 million and to refund ratepayers an additional $102 million, after having excluded from rates some $4 million in executive bonuses and incentive pay plans for management.

The refund corrects interim rates left in effect last year when the commission had terminated an alternative rate plan, finding that service quality had dropped since 1991, and the incentive-based program had begun. See, Re U S WEST Communications, Inc., UT 80, Order No.

The Virginia State Corporation Commission has announced it will conduct a broad-based investigation into current earnings and rate structures of Virginia Electric and Power Co. in light of changes under way in the electric market. The commission's staff had found, as part of an annual earnings review, that the utility "is clearly in an overearnings position."

The staff observed that the company may have "potentially large levels of stranded costs" because of uneconomic power contracts with nonutility generators.

State regulators in New Jersey, New York and California have recently approved mergers of local exchange and long-distance telephone carriers operating within those states that are part of larger interstate and international consolidations.

NYNEX/Bell Atlantic. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has approved the merger of two major local-exchange carrier holding companies, NYNEX Corp. and Bell Atlantic Corp.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has entered a cooperative agreement with the state's Infrastructure Investment Authority to better coordinate efforts by both agencies to improve the viability of small water and wastewater systems across the state.

The commission said many small systems had not increased rates when needed and had become unprofitable. The systems had been unable to acquire financing to make improvements to maintain good service quality and to meet future regulatory challenges.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission has authorized Northern Utilities Inc. to recover coal-tar cleanup costs via a special surcharge.

Under a settlement agreement, ratepayers will pay the full amount of cleanup costs incurred by the LDC on a rolling five-year amortization schedule. The costs will be capped at 4 percent of the company's annual adjusted total firm revenues from sales and transportation customers. Shareholders will bear the carrying costs on all deferred balances during the amortization schedule.

Having issued a comprehensive decision on electric utility restructuring on June 5, the Michigan Public Service Commission nevertheless must yet decide what to do about electric utilities that offer contracts to individual customers with off-the-tariff rate discounts.

Sound bites from state and federal regulators.

Overseas Investment. Michigan certifies plan by Consumers Electric and Gas Co. to bid on the outstanding equity of three electric distribution companies being privatized in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Case No. U-11331, April 14, 1997 (Mi.P.S.C.).

Appliance Repair Rates. New Jersey OKs rates for Public Service Electric and Gas Co.