Will the Crown accept the olive branch offered by its colony, or will conflict ensue? That was the question posed on July 13 by Thomas Page, CEO of San Diego Gas and Electric Co., at the "Western States Workshop on California Restructuring," the first industrywide meeting to discuss the policy proposals issued six weeks before by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).The Crown sent its emissaries.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has once again turned back an attempt by the Communications Workers of America to invoke state utility regulation to solve labor complaints against Pacific Bell.The union had complained that PacBell's use of lower-paid technicians to perform duties allegedly reserved for higher-paid contract classifications violated the state's public utility code.
The North Carolina Utilities Commission (UC)has granted authority to Frontier Utilities of North Carolina, Inc., to construct and operate a new natural gas pipeline and distribution system to provide service to four counties in the state.
The Virginia State Corporation Commission has approved a new pilot program for a "Standby Generation Control System" proposed by Virginia Electric and Power Co. The system would allow the utility to dispatch customer-owned generators at periods of system peak demand.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has approved a 2.43 percent rate increase in the price cap for Central Maine Power Co. (CMP). It also issued findings governing the flow-through to ratepayers of savings earned by restructuring contracts with qualifying cogeneration facilities (QFs).
The Michigan Court of Appeals has directed the Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) to expand its deregulation of telecommunications markets in compliance with a 1991 state law revamping telecommunications. It said that the PSC had defined too broadly which types of services should remain regulated under the 1991 law, the Michigan Telecommunications Act (MTAct).
Mirroring an earlier opinion by a federal district court, the Indiana Court of Appeals has struck down a state law that allowed regulators to offer special rate treatment and construction project preapproval to utilities that develop clean air compliance plans that would maximize the use of high-sulfur coal mined in the state. The court remanded the case to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and agreed with a prior finding by the U.S. District Court (S.D.
Indiana has enacted a new statute giving authority to state regulators to approve flexible regulation for energy utilities.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a settlement involving Transwestern Pipeline Co. (TP) that puts both the pipeline and its customers at risk for relinquished pipeline capacity, and ties future rate increase to inflation. The settlement puts TP and its customers at risk for the 457 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/day) of capacity that Southern California Gas Co. (SCG) will give up starting November 1, 1996. Firm customers will provide a short-term subsidy through a cost-sharing formula for the first five years.