New Mexico Coops and Tri-State G&T in Rate Battle
Posted on Dec 11, 2012
Kit Carson Electric Cooperative and two other New Mexico coops are battling a rate increase proposed by Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. (Tri-State). Specifically, the coops filed a protest calling for a public hearing on the rate increase. The coops cited a New Mexico law that allows the Public Regulation Commission to call a hearing on rates if three or more coops protest. In response, Tri-State has filed an objection, arguing that this law violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution because Tri-State is solely involved in interstate commerce. Read more...
Continue Reading
Coop and River Authority Reach Preliminary Settlement in Pending Lawsuit
Posted on Dec 10, 2012
Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative (GVEC) and the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) have reached a preliminary settlement of the lawsuit filed by LCRA after GVEC notified the authority of GVEC’s intent to terminate its wholesale electric contract with LCRA. GVEC is one of 10 wholesale customers of LCRA that chose not to extend contracts expiring in June 2016. The non-extending customers contended that LCRA allowed customers that extended their contracts to purchase a portion of their wholesale power on the competitive market while customers that did not agree to the extensions are...
Continue Reading
Utah Coop May Challenge California Greenhouse Gas Trading System
Posted on Dec 10, 2012
Utah-based Deseret Power Electric Cooperative (Deseret) may file a lawsuit challenging California’s greenhouse gas trading system. Although the coop has declined to comment on the potential lawsuit, “one informed source” asserts that Deseret may be seeking other businesses to join in this effort. The lawsuit would likely claim that the trading system violates either the Constitution’s Commerce Clause by regulating interstate power trades or the Federal Power Act that gives the federal government jurisdiction over power pricing. Click here for the full story (subscription...
Continue Reading
Emerson to Lead NRECA
Posted on Dec 5, 2012
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has a new leader. U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, a Missouri Republican, announced that she will be retiring from Congress in February to take the helm of the NRECA. When asked about the decision, Emerson stated, “. . . [t]hese are the people who provide electricity to my constituents…and the rural electric coops are what built America, the rural part of our country.” Emerson will officially resign from the House on February 8, 2013, and start her job at the NRECA on February 11, 2013. Read more here.
Continue Reading
Annual Survey Finds Customers More Satisfied with Coops than IOUs
Posted on Dec 3, 2012
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which annually surveys some 70,000 consumers, found that energy coops scored, on average, several points higher than investor-owned utilities (IOUs) in customer satisfaction. Touchstone Energy coops tied their all-time high showing in ACSI with a score of 83 compared to the IOU average of 76. The top utility, with a score of 85, was Atmos Energy, which provides only natural gas. Click here for more.
Continue Reading
Lawsuit Filed Against New Mexico Coop
Posted on Nov 29, 2012
The Jicarilla Apache Nation filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming eminent domain rights over a portion of the Northern Rio Arriba Electric Cooperative’s (NORA) electric system that runs across tribal land. NORA responded to the complaint claiming that the Jicarilla Apache Nation lacked jurisdiction and failed to satisfy arbitration procedures in place under the parties’ franchise agreement. NORA could be significantly impacted if it loses its tribal customers. ABQ Journal has the details.
Continue Reading
Alaskan Coop to Move Forward with LNG Project
Posted on Nov 29, 2012
Golden Valley Electric Association plans to move forward with a liquefied natural gas project after the termination of its joint venture with Flint Hills Resources. However, construction of the proposed $200 million plant will largely depend on whether Golden Valley can secure a state grant. The state governor is also considering an alternative plan under which the state would build the plant. Read more here.
Continue Reading
Basin Electric Gears Up for Power Plant Expansion
Posted on Nov 29, 2012
Basin Electric Power Cooperative plans to construct a 90-MW, gas-fired addition to a 45-MW facility currently under construction in western North Dakota. Construction of the expansion project should begin in April 2014 with an operational date of January 2015. While the cost of the project and the number of jobs to be created are yet unknown, the transmission infrastructure is already in place to serve the facility. The Bismarck Tribune has the full story.
Continue Reading
CFTC Issues No-Action Relief for Coops
Posted on Nov 29, 2012
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Clearing and Risk granted qualifying coops no-action relief from the mandatory clearing requirement for swaps that meet certain conditions as further delineated in the no-action letter. The conditions are similar to those offered in the proposed coop exemption rule issued by the CFTC last summer. The relief is effective until the earlier of April 1, 2013, or the date the CFTC rules on the proposed coop exemption. Click here for more information.
Continue Reading
Texas Coop Opposes New Emergency Drought Order
Posted on Nov 28, 2012
Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC), the nation’s largest electric coop, may be faced with an inadequate water supply after the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) decided last week to approve a new drought emergency order. The new emergency order reduces the amount of water required to be in certain reservoir lakes used by PEC to cool its generators. Before the new emergency order was implemented, PEC officials said the reduced water supply could put its members at risk. To read more about the LCRA’s decision, click here.
Continue Reading
Oklahoma, Kansas Face Power Line Shortage During Oil and Gas Boom
Posted on Nov 27, 2012
The developers working in the oil and natural gas fields in the Mississippi Lime formation in northwest Oklahoma and western Kansas need electric generators to drill, but the electricity for these generators has proven to be insufficient in parts of the region. These rural areas do not usually have load problems, so new infrastructure needs to be built rapidly, according to Western Farmers Electric Cooperative. This coop is building 135 miles of new transmission lines in northern Oklahoma to help meet some of the new power needs. Read more here.
Continue Reading
Wolverine and We Energies to Jointly Own Presque Isle Power Plant
Posted on Nov 27, 2012
Wolverine Power Cooperative and We Energies will pursue joint ownership of the Presque Isle power plant in Marquette, Michigan. This decision also included the addition of state-of-the-art emission controls at the plant. Wolverine will acquire a minority interest in the facility by funding and constructing the air quality control additions, a job estimated to cost $130 to $140 million. We Energies will continue to operate the plant as well as the air quality control system. Click here for more.
Continue Reading
House Democrat Calls for Grid Security Legislation
Posted on Nov 26, 2012
Massachusetts Representative Ed Markey, a top House Democrat, has called on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Republican chairman, Michigan Representative Fred Upton, to help corral GOP support and pass an electrical grid security bill the pair co-sponsored. Markey says that physical and cyber threats to power infrastructure were increasing and that the Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense Act, or GRID Act, is critical to guard against known risks to the nation’s electrical system. GRID, H.R. 5026, was introduced during the last Congress and would direct the Federal Energy...
Continue Reading
Federal Judge Clears the Way for Alaskan Coal Plant
Posted on Nov 26, 2012
A federal judge has approved an agreement among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the state of Alaska and an Alaskan power company that will allow a coal plant to reopen by 2015. Under the agreement, Golden Valley Electric Association agreed to install the most rigorous emission controls available on coal-fired electric generating units at the Healy Clean Coal Plant at an estimated cost of $40 million and will also install additional nitrous oxide controls on a second unit at the plant, which is estimated to cost about $5 million. Additionally, the coop will pay $250,000 to help...
Continue Reading
Subscribe
