The California Public Utilities Commission approved a performance-based ratemaking plan for Southern California Gas Co. that could yield substantial savings, which the company is required to share with customers.
The PUC said the proposed merger of the utility's parent, Pacific Enterprises, and Enova Corp., parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric Co., should improve efficiency and benefit ratepayers.
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has approved a pilot program for Jersey Central Power and Light Co. that will allow some of the utility's electric customers to choose a private energy supplier and then compare bills with and without retail competition.
JCP&L, an electric utility doing business as GPU Energy, serves more than 11,900 mostly residential customers in Monroe, N.J., the targeted town.
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has rejected a request by Idaho Power Co. to include a "public purpose charge" in ratepayer bills to fund its participation in the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.
The utility said that the goal of the new organization is to transform existing energy markets to permit improvements in energy use efficiency without the need for long-term utility incentives.
The commission permitted the utility to capitalize and defer the costs of its investment in the organization until additional information is available.
The Missouri Public Service Commission has directed Kansas City Power & Light Co. to offer stand-by electric services to self-generation customers at market-based prices.
The rate design approved by the commission allows the utility to recover stranded costs that might otherwise be shifted to customers who continue to take bundled electric service on the utility's regulated distribution system.
The PSC approved a plan proposed by its staff that would require the utility to employ "real-time pricing" for the energy component.
Says association too wishy-washy on retail choice.
CONSUMER CHOICE MAY TURN BELLY UP THIS Congress but it has hit the gut of the nation's rural cooperative association: a member co-op has dropped out over the NRECA's stance on a federal Choice mandate.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered natural gas producers in Kansas to refund to customers approximately $500 million for erroneously adding the state's ad valorem tax onto interstate rates.
In its Sept. 10 ruling, the FERC said such taxes are not eligible for rate recovery under the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 and, following court directive, ordered the customer refund. (See, Docket Nos. rp97-369-000 et al.).
The refund covers gas produced from October 1983, when the petition challenging the add-on tax originally was filed at the FERC, until June 1988.
New England Power Co. has agreed with 17 parties, including government agencies and conservation groups, on the relicensing of the Fifteen Mile Falls hydroelectric project on the Connecticut River.
New England Electric System President and CEO John W. Rowe, Gov. Howard Dean (D-Vermont) and Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) signed the agreement.
The agreement governs requirements for a new, 40-year license for Fifteen Mile Falls, the largest conventional hydroelectric project in New England.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ruled that all electric power sales into the California power exchange are to be treated as wholesale power sales under Federal Power Act Sec. 201, and for the purpose of qualifying under the definition of "exempt wholesale generator," as defined in Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935. (See, Docket No. el97-36-000.)
The September 10 ruling was made in response to a request by Southern California Edison, which plans to divest all its fossil-fueled electric generation plants.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has moved closer to deciding the stranded cost dispute between Consumers Energy and the city of Alma, Mich., which intends to construct its own municipal electric system.
On Sept. 10, the FERC set for hearing two stranded cost issues: (1) whether Consumers Energy has met the "reasonable expectation" standard justifying stranded cost recovery from Alma; and (2) if so, what amount the utility may recover. (See, Docket No. sc97-4-000.)
Consumers Energy wants $56.1 million in stranded cost payments from Alma.
We won't move to credit cards until our customers demand the option.
EVERY DAY, CUSTOMERS OF PUBLIC utilities ask the same question: "If I can buy my gasoline, grocery, medicines and all other necessities with plastic, then why can't I pay for my electricity, water, gas and telephone bills that way?"
Public utilities (em except long-distance telephone companies (em have yet to enter full-blown competition. When they do, utilities should decide whether to pursue the credit card option.