Rules

While politicians were generally endorsing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s westwide market mitigation order, posted late Tuesday evening and effective at midnight that night, those in the trenches spent Wednesday parsing the 60-page order (EL00-95-031), figuring out implementation and strategies.

Staff at the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) has urged state regulators to reject the pending merger between FirstEnergy Corp. and GPU Inc. on the grounds that the two companies have failed to back up claims that the merger will not harm ratepayers in the Garden State, among other things.

Commonwealth Edison Co. has requested waivers and authorizations from FERC to allow a number of its industrial and commercial customers with on-site generation to sell excess power to the utility during summer peak demand periods without first obtaining Commission approval.

Commonwealth Edison Co. has requested waivers and authorizations from FERC to allow a number of its industrial and commercial customers with on-site generation to sell excess power to the utility during summer peak demand periods without first obtaining Commission approval.

As the moratorium on electric and natural gas heatingdisconnections in Ohio came to an end on Monday, the PublicUtilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) enacted a last minute orderstating that regulated utility companies need to follow specificsteps before disconnecting consumers for non-payment of a winterheating bill.

With December natural gas usage bills hitting extraordinarilyhard in Illinois this year, city and state legislators have set outin search of clues as to why gas prices are through the roof.Spurred by the urgings of Gov. George H. Ryan and variouslegislators, the Illinois Commerce Commission voted 5-0 to open aninvestigation into this winter’s natural gas price spikes. The ICCalso directed its staff to put together its final report within 60to 120 days (see Daily GPI, Jan. 10).

Hoping to reverse the momentum of adverse court and regulatoryactions that have pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy, SouthernCalifornia Edison Monday won a U.S. District Court lawsuit againststate regulators, upholding the utility’s right to recoverreasonable costs for purchasing power.

FERC last week reaffirmed the bulk of Order 639 in which it isattempting to bring about some consistency to the regulation ofnatural gas pipelines on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) byimposing similar reporting burdens on all facilities. It also madea few nips and tucks in the OCS order, especially with respect thefiling date for the reports and and the types of shippers that areexempted.

Despite his promise to the gas industry last year that he wouldn’t change the Pipeline Safety Act of 1995 (see Daily GPI, March 19, 1999), Congressman Bob Franks (R-NJ), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee — who also is running for a Senate seat in his home state — introduced a bill last week that would do just that. His legislation joined a growing stack of pipeline safety bills that have been introduced this session.