New Mexico Coops, Regulators and Power Supplier Clash Over Rates
Posted on Mar 18, 2013
Last week, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) denied a trio of requests from Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (Tri-State) for interim rate increases that would have affected 12 New Mexico coops. Tri-State provides wholesale power to 44 rural cooperatives in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska, and each coop has a representative on the Tri-State board. Three New Mexico coops – Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, Springer Electric Cooperative, Inc. and Continental Divide Electric Cooperative – filed protests with the PRC after Tri-State sought to raise its...
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Breach of Contract Suit Brought by Texas Coop Removed to Federal Court
Posted on Mar 13, 2013
In January, East Texas Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ETEC) filed suit against Entergy Texas, Inc. (Entergy) in Texas state court claiming that Entergy breached multiple agreements between the parties and seeking $8 million in damages. Entergy filed its Notice of Removal last week, which removed the action to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. To read more about the suit, including the original complaint filed in state court, click here.
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FERC Issues License for Hydroelectric Project in Alaska
Posted on Mar 13, 2013
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a license for Inside Passage Electric Cooperative’s Gartina Falls project near Hoonah, Alaska. The project, which is fully funded at less than $8 million, will replace 30 percent of the diesel use in Hoonah. Local businesses, which are not eligible for the state’s power-cost equalization program, stand to benefit from the expected lower rates. Read more here.
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North Carolina Coop Seeking Addition of Transmission Line in a Wilderness Area
Posted on Mar 11, 2013
A Rutherford County coop may end up in conflict with ecologists after seeking to run a 12-mile, high-voltage power line through an area of unbroken forest that is currently part of a conservation zone. Rutherford Electric Membership Corporation says the proposed line would prevent brownouts in a rural community of 1,900 families but ecologists counter that the line would run a 100-foot-wide dagger through the heart of some of the rarest plant and wildlife habitats in North Carolina. Click here to read more on this story.
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Coops Ask DOE Chief to Drop Grid Restructuring Plan
Posted on Mar 11, 2013
Coops and other utilities want the new Department of Energy chief, Ernest Moniz, to drop his predecessor’s requirements to integrate renewable energy into the grid. Utility groups want Moniz to rescind a plan proposed by outgoing DOE Secretary Steven Chu to restructure federally controlled power systems in the Western United States that would enable deployment of renewable energy, electric vehicles and other advanced resources. Multiple rural electric coops and municipal utilities as well as a group of lawmakers assert that the grid restructuring plan will increase costs for utilities...
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Bipartisan Group of Senators Express Concern Over Potential Hike in Shipping Rates
Posted on Mar 11, 2013
Several U.S. senators, led by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., have asked federal regulators to make sure that an investment giant’s purchase of BNSF Railway Co. does not saddle shippers with unfair costs. Specifically, Sen. Franken, along with Sens. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.; Tim Johnson, D-S.D.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; and David Vitter, R-La, told the Surface Transportation Board that Berkshire Hathaway violated the board’s multiple carrier rules because it owned two other railroads when it bought BNSF for $43 billion in 2010. Although Berkshire has since dissociated itself from...
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Missouri Coop to Shut Down Chamois Power Plant
Posted on Mar 8, 2013
Central Electric Power Cooperative’s (Central) board has decided to cease operations at the Chamois Power Plant in Missouri effective September 30. Since 1962, Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. (AECI), the wholesale supplier of Central, has been paying all of the expenses of the plant in exchange for a right to all of the output. The plant is the smallest and the oldest of AECI’s coal plants. Central’s board based its decision on a number of factors, including environmental regulations, slower than expected load growth and the expiration of a coal supply contract. The News Tribune...
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House and Senate Introduce Bills to Prevent Theft of Metals from Critical Infrastructure, Businesses
Posted on Mar 7, 2013
On February 28, several senators introduced a bipartisan legislation designed to prevent the growing problem of metal theft. Among other things, the bipartisan legislation would make it metal theft, explicitly identifying theft of metal from critical infrastructure, a federal crime and would require recyclers of scrap metal to keep detailed documentation of metal purchases and make such records available to law enforcement agencies. The House introduced a similar bill February 27, 2013. Read the full press release.
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Judge Bars Documents in Power Plant Case Despite Coop’s Objections
Posted on Mar 5, 2013
Despite objections by American Municipal Power, Inc. (AMP), a federal judge has ruled that emails between AMP and contractor Bechtel Corporation (Bechtel) are subject to the attorney-client privilege, thereby barring the mistakenly disclosed documents from a lawsuit. AMP is suing Maryland-based Bechtel over a $1 billion unexpected increase in estimated power plant construction costs. An in-camera review of the emails convinced the court that “[t]here is enough in the circumstances surrounding the communications to support the inference that the employees were aware the information was...
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Montana Coop to Participate in Battery Test
Posted on Mar 5, 2013
Flathead Electric Cooperative, Inc.’s (Flathead Electric) Kalispell, Montana, campus will be the first test site for the Zinc Air Inc. (Zinc Air) battery storage technology. The tests are expected to last about six months and will allow Zinc Air and Flathead Electric to assess applications for both utility and end-user benefits, such as peak demand reduction and load shifting. Click here for more.
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Bills Would Exempt Hawaii Coop from Some State Regulations
Posted on Mar 5, 2013
Hawaii lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission to exempt the Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative, the only electric coop in the state, from certain state regulations governing for-profit utilities. Senate Bill 1045 and House Bill 815 are up for consideration this week. Read the full story here.
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Coop May Be Sued by Cape Coral, Florida, Again
Posted on Mar 5, 2013
The city of Cape Coral, Florida, may sue Lee County Electric Cooperative again in connection with millions spent on moving utility equipment during roadway expansions. Cape Coral expects the coop to pay for costs associated with relocating its utility equipment during the projects, but the coop disagrees. The city was successful in a similar lawsuit filed in 2005, and that case was upheld by an appeals court last year. Click here for the full story.
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Coop May Be Sued by Cape Coral, Florida, Again
Posted on Mar 5, 2013
The city of Cape Coral, Florida, may sue Lee County Electric Cooperative again in connection with millions spent on moving utility equipment during roadway expansions. Cape Coral expects the coop to pay for costs associated with relocating its utility equipment during the projects, but the coop disagrees. The city was successful in a similar lawsuit filed in 2005, and that case was upheld by an appeals court last year. Click here for the full story.
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Bills Would Exempt Hawaii Coop from Some State Regulations
Posted on Mar 5, 2013
Hawaii lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission to exempt the Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative, the only electric coop in the state, from certain state regulations governing for-profit utilities. Senate Bill 1045 and House Bill 815 are up for consideration this week. Read the full story here.
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