Mississippi Introduces Bill Requiring Payment of Revenues to Local Municipalities
Posted on Jan 22, 2014
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.
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Iowa Coops in Legal Battle with Solar Energy Company
Posted on Jan 22, 2014
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 gain national attention and may help shape the future of solar energy sales in the region. To read more about this story, click here.
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Georgia Coop Retires Nearly $11 Million in Patronage Capital
Posted on Jan 21, 2014
Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation (Sawnee EMC) has announced that it will retire $10.6 million to approximately 63,900 eligible members through a general retirement of patronage capital for the years 1991, 1992 and 1993. This means that members that received electric service from Sawnee EMC during this three-year period will get a refund. The size of the refund will be based on each member’s assignment of patronage capital. This refund is the result of revenue in excess of operating costs and expenses for the coop. For more information on this action and how to collect these funds if...
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Indiana Coop Becomes 100 Percent CFC Borrower
Posted on Jan 21, 2014
Indiana coop Jackson County Rural Electric Membership Corporation (Jackson County REMC) recently refinanced $100,000 in outstanding debt, making it a 100 percent National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) borrower. Jackson County REMC initially joined CFC in 1999. The coop is also currently implementing its first-ever capital credits general retirement. Read more here.
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Vermont Net Metering Program May Be Overhauled
Posted on Jan 21, 2014
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 would increase the cap on a utility’s total percent of installed net metering wattage during peak demand from 4 percent to 15 percent. Due to the current cap, Vermont Electric Cooperative’s (VEC) net metering...
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Dairyland Continues to Pursue Strategic Solar Projects
Posted on Jan 17, 2014
Dairyland Power Cooperative (Dairyland) recently announced a new 517-kW solar facility in Oronoco, Minnesota. While relatively small, the anticipated production characteristics of this solar facility should limit the peak-time burden on other resources. This solar project supplements the solar energy that Dairyland already receives from two smaller solar facilities, located in Galena, Illinois, and Necedah, Wisconsin. Read more here.
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Minnesota PUC Petitioned to Rethink Project Approval
Posted on Jan 16, 2014
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 the line say that actual growth and demand have not met forecasted numbers and, therefore, the line will not provide the benefits projected at the time it was proposed to the PUC. The Milwaukee Journal...
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EPA Decision in Wyoming Means Big Dollars for Basin Electric
Posted on Jan 16, 2014
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 costs. Basin Electric continues to consider possible avenues for relief from the EPA’s decision. Click here for more.
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SBA Redefines “Small Utilities”
Posted on Jan 16, 2014
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 fossil generation and 750 employees or less. To learn more about how this rulemaking may affect your business, click here.
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AECC Requests Review of Coal Tariff Decision
Posted on Jan 15, 2014
Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation (AECC) has asked the federal Surface Transportation Board to reconsider its December ruling related to the shipping of coal. AECC argued that the decision, which upheld a rail tariff that requires shippers to cover the cost of cleaning coal dust emissions from railcars, lacked sufficient justification. AECC provided evidence suggesting that most of the coal dust spills were the result of slack action between cars and other rail practices. Read more here.
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Alaska Coop Purchases Clean Coal Plant
Posted on Jan 14, 2014
Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA), based in Fairbanks, Alaska, recently purchased a 50-MW clean coal project from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, with the help of a $45 million, 30-year loan from the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation. The project, the Healy Unit 2 power plant, will be shored up with an additional $37 million in updates and is estimated to be online in 2015. GVEA’s president and CEO stated that it would cost more than $300 million to build a plant like the Healy Unit 2 today. Click here for more about the purchase. ...
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Iowa Legislators Back Coops Revisiting Denial of FEMA Aid
Posted on Jan 14, 2014
After being denied aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) following an April 2013 ice storm, several Iowa coops, as well as the State of Iowa itself, appealed the agency’s decision. The Iowa congressional delegation has asked that FEMA revisit the decision, which Chuck Grassley, U.S. Senator from Iowa, says resulted from an “abrupt change of policy.” Click here for more.
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Basin Electric Transporting Coal by Trucks to Meet Demand
Posted on Jan 9, 2014
Basin Electric Power Cooperative (Basin Electric) has been transporting coal via trucks to meet the demand of the Leland Olds Station, located near Stanton, North Dakota, since BNSF Railway can no longer guarantee its ability to get two 60-car coal trains on the rail tracks every day. The trucks providing the coal are now making about 250 hauls per day. The rail problem began last summer when the route became busier due to an oil transload near the coal mine. Basin Electric intends to keep transporting coal via trucks until the end of January and then re-evaulate the coal supply for...
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Coops Battle Frigid Temperatures
Posted on Jan 8, 2014
Cooperatives throughout the country are battling a bitter cold snap that has brought record low temperatures, snow and ice to hundreds of cooperative territories. The weather has caused some cooperatives to issue calls for conservation and has kept line crews busy for several days. To read more about how the winter weather is affecting cooperatives, click here.
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