Whether you're a utility commissioner in Wyoming or Georgia, a v.p. for a leading marketer, or a commission division director in New Jersey, you share a common activity: learning by the seat of your pants about deregulating gas markets. In this gas forum, PUBLIC UTILITIES FORTNIGHTLY highlights developments across the nation.
Light-handed or Light-headed?Customers didn't buy power on lay-away. So why should the CPUC exact interest?
In a recent dream, the Governor of California called to ask if I would accept an appointment to serve on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Of course I thanked him and said I was extremely flattered by the offer. However, I inquired, didn't he have an opening on the parole board or air resources board? You see, I know entirely too much about the thankless work of the CPUC.
A divided Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has set for expedited hearing the proposed merger between Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. (BGE) and Potomac Electric Power Co. (PEPCO) to form "Constellation Energy Corp.," to determine its effect on competition (Docket Nos. EC96-10-000 and ER96-784-000).
It will also consider the applicants' proposed open-access transmission rates. An administrative law judge will certify the record to the FERC by November 1.
The FERC has proposed major revisions to the secondary market for interstate capacity, offering interstate pipelines and holders of interstate capacity the opportunity to participate in experimental programs to help determine the effectiveness of the proposed changes (Docket Nos.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced that qualifying facilities (QFs) that fail to meet the standards needed to retain QF status will be required to file wholesale rates for sales during the period their facilities do not comply (Docket Nos. EL94-45-001 and QF88-84-006).
The FERC asked QFs to be as vigilant as possible. The new policy states that if a QF fails to comply with the regulations, fails to receive a FERC waiver excusing the lapse, and then returns to noncompliance, the QF will be required to file rates for the noncompliance period.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued two orders that indicate for the first time how it would implement the prohibition against "sham" transactions under the Energy Policy Act. The separate decisions involve requests by two municipalities for orders requiring utilities to wheel power.
In one order, the FERC denied a request by the City of Palm Springs, CA, for electric transmission service from Southern California Edison (SCE) under sections 211 and 212 of the Federal Power Act (FPA) (Docket No. TX96-7-000).
Ronald L. Adams, an executive from Transcontinental Gas Pipeline, was named president of CNG Transmission Corp. He replaces L.J. Timms, Jr., who retired.
Lee Elder was hired by GE Nuclear Energy as manager of market development. Elder was g.m. of nuclear marketing and technology for Black & Veatch and started a joint venture between the two companies to service boiling water reactors.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has hired Richard L. Heck, a former U.S.
not a grab for power.
The jurisdictional issues posed by Order 888 continue to breed tension between federal and state officials. Unfortunately, most of this tension too often elevates form over substance. This jurisdictional tension shifts the focus of decisionmaking from securing the benefits of competition to preserving regulatory turf.
Some shareholders do find bottom-line value
in a "marriage of convenience."
With six merger and acquisition (M&A) deals announced between May 1995 and January 1996, and three more so far this year, the long-predicted consolidation of the electric utility industry is taking hold. At least 23 utilities, with business-combination transactions pending, are part of the frenetic domestic M&A activity that has swept the industry.
Nine of the 10 electric utility members (excluding PECO Energy Co.) of the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) Interconnection have filed agreements and transmission tariffs at the FERC, seeking to replace the pool with a competitive power pool that would set a next-hour spot wholesale power price (to vary by location), but also allow bilateral trading.
The majority proposal would set up an independent system operator (ISO). The tariff would support poolwide open access and comparable transmission service.