Commission

The Utah Public Service Commission (PSC) has authorized Mountain Fuel Supply Co., an LDC, to increase rates by $3.7 million. The LDC will collect the revenue deficiency by assessing a fee of $12.00 per month for 12 months on new residential premises. The charge is designed to recover increased capital and operating costs due to new customer growth in the LDC's service territory. The new rule permits the LDC to record 20 percent of the credits as distribution nongas revenues, while passing the remaining 80 percent back to ratepayers through its fuel-cost adjustment clause.

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (URC) has authorized MCI Telecommunications Corp., an interexchange carrier, to provide certain local business telephone services in the Indianapolis area on a two-year trial basis. These services (em which MCI will resell under an agreement with Hancock Rural Telephone Corp., a local exchange carrier (LEC) (em were previously offered exclusively by either Hancock or Ameritech Indiana, another LEC serving the Indianapolis area. The trial program is the result of a settlement agreement between MCI and Hancock.

The Appellate Court of Illinois (First District) has ruled that the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) failed to properly consider the effect on consumers when it approved a rate restructuring plan for Central Telephone Co. of Illinois, a telecommunications local exchange carrier (LEC). An ICC order from a base-rate proceeding had permitted the LEC to eliminate most of its flat-rate calling plans and replace them with usage-sensitive service offerings. The order also permitted a general shift of costs away from business users and onto the residential customer class.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has asserted jurisdiction over a controversial proposal by Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) to transfer personnel and assets from an existing ratepayer-funded energy-efficiency program to an unregulated affiliate.

Faced with the possibility that existing contracts to provide electric service to Holloman Air Force Base and the White Sands Missile Range would lapse if the two facilities carry out plans to solicit competitive bids for their power-supply requirements, El Paso Electric Co. has convinced both the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force to continue taking service in the traditional way for an extended period of time.

performance-based awards under the company's executive incentive payment rules were based on criteria related to cost of gas and operations and maintenance expense.

return-on-equity (ROE) analyses.

It appears that The Washington Water Power Co. (WWP) and Sierra Pacific Power Co. (SPP), which were hoping for a quick OK on their proposed merger to form "Altus," may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Instead of a perfunctory approval, the WWP/SPP merger now may become the test case for evolving merger policy at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Perhaps the utilities should have seen it coming. In approving the Midwest Power Systems, Inc./Iowa-Illinois Gas & Electric Co. merger, FERC Commissioners William L.

There are essentially two kinds of reliability: sufficient generating capacity, and sufficient transmission capacity. Although it often receives the most attention, generation accounts for only about 10 percent of reliability concerns. Even when there is a problem, there is usually time to prepare; demand can be reduced through voltage reductions, interruptible customers, public appeals, and as a last resort, rotating blackouts.