Sioux City Looks to Settle Excessive Fee Claims
Posted on Feb 3, 2014 in Legislative & Politics, Litigation, Rates, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Sioux City Looks to Settle Excessive Fee Claims
Residents in multiple Iowa cities have filed lawsuits claiming that franchise fees added to customers’ utility bills by those cities were excessive and amounted to an illegal tax. Despite the Iowa legislature’s subsequent passing of a law legalizing franchise taxes of up to 5 percent, many cities will be forced to settle the claims. Customers of Woodbury County Rural Electric...
Senate Passes Cooperative and Small Employer Charity Pension Flexibility Act
Posted on Jan 31, 2014 in Corporate Governance, Legislative & Politics, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Senate Passes Cooperative and Small Employer Charity Pension Flexibility Act
The Cooperative and Small Employer Charity Pension Flexibility Act, which the U.S. Senate passed unanimously, exempts coops from regulation under the Pension Protection Act of 2006. The Act is now headed to the House of Representatives. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and interested coops have supported this legislation. See Electric Co-op Today for the full...
Latest Round of USDA Loans Announced
Posted on Jan 30, 2014 in Financing, Project Development, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Latest Round of USDA Loans Announced
As part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant program, $13.9 million in loans and grants have been approved for electric coops spanning eight states. The funds are intended to stimulate job growth and spark economic development in rural areas. Read more here.
Coops Face Increased Costs with Stricter Haze Regulation
Posted on Jan 27, 2014 in Environmental, Legislative & Politics, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Coops Face Increased Costs with Stricter Haze Regulation
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) partially disapproved Wyoming’s plan to address haze pollution in the region, setting stricter limits on certain gases and particulate matter than the state plan had proposed. Participants in the Missouri Basin Power Project, including Basin Electric Power Cooperative (Basin Electric), are grappling with the prospect of increased costs due to...
Mississippi Introduces Bill Requiring Payment of Revenues to Local Municipalities
Posted on Jan 22, 2014 in Legislative & Politics, Regulation & Policy, Reliability | Comments Off on Mississippi Introduces Bill Requiring Payment of Revenues to Local Municipalities
The Mississippi State Senate has introduced Senate Bill 2567, which would require electric cooperatives to pay a percentage of their gross revenues from sales to industrial customers to the municipality in which the customers are located. To read the text of this bill, click here.
Iowa Coops in Legal Battle with Solar Energy Company
Posted on Jan 22, 2014 in Litigation, Regulation & Policy, Renewable Energy | Comments Off on Iowa Coops in Legal Battle with Solar Energy Company
Public utilities and electric cooperatives in Iowa are arguing in front of the Iowa Supreme Court that a solar energy company has violated Iowa law by installing solar systems on buildings belonging to customers of the utilities and cooperatives and then selling the electricity produced by the systems back to those customers that commissioned the installation. The case will likely...
Vermont Net Metering Program May Be Overhauled
Posted on Jan 21, 2014 in Climate Change, Environmental, Regulation & Policy, Renewable Energy | Comments Off on Vermont Net Metering Program May Be Overhauled
Vermont lawmakers are striving to raise the existing cap on the state’s net metering program to match the growing demand for residential renewable energy generation. A bill, approved by the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee last week, offers a fast-track solution ahead of larger changes expected when a federal solar tax credit expires, likely in 2017. The proposed bill...
Minnesota PUC Petitioned to Rethink Project Approval
Posted on Jan 16, 2014 in Grid & Infrastructure, Land Use, Project Development, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Minnesota PUC Petitioned to Rethink Project Approval
Certain public interest groups petitioned the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to reconsider its decision approving a $500 million high-voltage transmission line connecting La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Rochester, Minnesota. The project, currently under construction by Dairyland Power Cooperative and other investing utilities, is scheduled for completion in 2015. Opponents of...
EPA Decision in Wyoming Means Big Dollars for Basin Electric
Posted on Jan 16, 2014 in Environmental, Litigation, Regulation & Policy, Technology | Comments Off on EPA Decision in Wyoming Means Big Dollars for Basin Electric
A recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will impose a stricter emissions limit in Wyoming that will force utilities and coops, including Basin Electric Power Cooperative (Basin Electric), to invest in expensive technologies to comply by early 2019. The compliance costs are estimated upwards of $1 billion in capital costs and hundreds of millions in operating...
SBA Redefines “Small Utilities”
Posted on Jan 16, 2014 in Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on SBA Redefines “Small Utilities”
Under the new definition approved by the Small Business Administration (SBA) effective January 22, 2013, all distribution coops and most generation & transmission (G&T) coops will be considered “small utilities” with lightened legal and regulatory responsibilities. The new definition will classify as “small” a distribution coop of 1,000 employees or less and G&T coops with...
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