Rejects

In a proceeding that involves questions of federal and state regulatory jurisdiction, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) recently rejected a proposal by Virginia Electric & Power Co. (VEPCO) to make wholesale sales of power at cost-based rates to affiliate Dominion Retail Inc.

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC last Tuesday rejected a petition for review of an order in which FERC ruled Questar Gas Co.’s status as a Commission-exempt Hinshaw pipeline would be endangered if municipal utilities distributed natural gas delivered by Questar to customers across Utah’s southern border.

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC on Tuesday rejected a Utah-Arizona municipal group’s petition for review of a FERC order that doused the munis’ chances to distribute natural gas delivered by Questar Gas Co. to customers across Utah’s southern border without endangering Questar’s status as a Hinshaw pipe, which excuses it from FERC jurisdiction.

FERC last Wednesday turned aside requests for rehearing filed by various California parties related to the Commission’s approval earlier this year of a settlement reached between Reliant Resources Inc. and FERC staff under which the generator agreed to pay $13.8 million for withholding electricity from the state’s market on two days in June 2000.

FERC denied requests for rehearing and stay by numerous pipeline customers and approved stiffer creditworthiness standards for Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL), including a plan to suspend service within five business days if a shipper falls behind in payments a second time within six months and another plan that would halve the time period to 15 days for suspending service when a shipper is delinquent in payments.

FERC denied requests for rehearing and stay by numerous pipeline customers and approved stiffer creditworthiness standards for Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL), including a plan to suspend service within five business days if a shipper falls behind in payments a second time within six months and another plan that would halve the time period to 15 days for suspending service when a shipper is delinquent in payments.

A U.S. House subcommittee last week voted down a proposal that would have allowed states to opt out of FERC’s pending standard market design (SMD) for U.S. wholesale power markets.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last Thursday turned aside an emergency stay request filed by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal that would have delayed the implementation of a standard market design (SMD) in New England, which is set to go into effect this month.

In a decision that could prove to be a significant setback in Enron Corp.’s efforts to sell its Portland General Electric (PGE) subsidiary, a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) judge last week rejected a bid by the former energy trading giant to procure exemption status for itself and PGE from the Public Utilities Holding Company Act (PUHCA).