A 17-month Minnesota rate case covering 2014 and 2015 gives Xcel Energy the rate hike it was looking for, but it will also provide a small refund to electric customers who were paying a 4.6% interim rate hike from last year. The Public Utility Commission approved the hike, but due to the complexity of the case, and the fact that it covers two years, a final ruling on just how much the hike will be won’t be decided for several more weeks.
It will be the fifth successive rate hike for Xcel’s Minnesota customers. The company said it may seek another hike next year, as well, because the PUC rejected its proposal that would have rolled all the hikes into one. Xcel sought a 10.4% hike, which would have translated into $291 million. The final hike is expected to be close to a 9.72% return on equity, or about $191 million. The PUC also denied the utility’s request for money to cover cost overruns at its Monticello nuclear plant.
More: Star Tribune
Exelon’s Oyster Creek Station Goes Back Online After 6 Days
Exelon Nuclear’s Oyster Creek Generating Station resumed full power on Saturday after being offline since the previous Sunday. The plant automatically shut down after problems were discovered in a system that controls the plant’s steam pressure. Technicians worked through the week and corrected the problem Friday.
The company didn’t give any further details on the problem. The 636-MW station is the oldest in the company’s fleet, and is scheduled for decommissioning in 2019. The plant received a “white” performance indicator from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission because of four unplanned shutdowns, or “scrams,” in 2013 and 2014. It received a “yellow,” or more serious, finding last month after problems were found with two of five reactor pressure valves.
More: Asbury Park Press
AEP’s Unregulated Barge Subsidiary Might be Sold
American Electric Power says it has hired Morgan Stanley to explore alternatives for its competitive barge transportation subsidiary, AEP River Operations, which operates river barges serving its unregulated power plants.
Separately, the Columbus-based company has said it is considering the sale of its unregulated power plants. (See AEP Considering Sale of 8,000 MW in Ohio, Indiana.)
“AEP is committed to completing its review of potential alternatives for River Operations as promptly as practicable,” the company said.
River Operations has more than 2,200 barges and 1,090 employees, according to the company, and last year it reported a profit of $49 million.
More: AEP; Columbus Dispatch
GE to Auction 315 MW of TSRs in Linden VFT in April
GE Energy Financial Services in April will auction 315 MW of bi-directional electricity transfer capacity across its Linden Variable Frequency Transformer smart grid project.
It will sell 90 MW of transmission scheduling rights that will become available on June 1, 2016, and 225 MW of TSRs available as of June 1, 2018.
The TSRs can be used to sell energy and capacity sourced in PJM into NYISO and vice versa.
More: GE Energy Financial Services
AEP Agrees to Cut Cost of Refusing Smart Meters
In an agreement with the staff of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, American Electric Power has agreed to cut the cost of refusing its smart meters from $31/month to $24. The commission still needs to sign off on the agreement after public hearings. If the agreement is finalized, it will mean customers will be paying $288/year to keep an old-style analog meter, as opposed to AEP’s initial plan, which would have cost $382/year. One party that didn’t sign on to the agreement was the Office of Ohio Consumer’s Counsel, which feels the charge should be just $10.49/month. So far, the company has installed 132,000 meters. It plans to expand its GridSmart system to 894,000 homes and businesses. It said the price of refusal covers the cost for the time and travel it takes for employees to read the old-style meters.
More: Columbus Business First
NRG Awaiting State Approval to Switch Dunkirk to Gas
NRG Energy is awaiting approval from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation of its updated air quality permit to allow the switch of its Dunkirk, N.Y., generating station from coal to gas. A 30-day period for public comment ended on March 20. Dunkirk was built in the 1950s and has always been a coal-burning plant. The conversion is expected to be completed by the end of the year. (See Dunkirk Plant Chronology.)
More: Buffalo Business First
PECO Seeks $190 Million Rate Hike for Improvements
PECO has filed a request with the Public Utility Commission to raise rates about 4.4%, or $190 million, to pay for system upgrades. If approved, it would mean an increase of about $6.55/month for the average residential user. PECO says its system needs about $300 million in work each year, which includes equipment replacement and upgrades. It said it is spending an additional $275 million over the next five years to make the system less vulnerable to storm damage.
More: Daily Local
Dominion to Build $1 Billion, 1,600-MW Plant in Virginia
Dominion Virginia Power has announced the planned construction of a 1,600-MW natural gas-fired, combined-cycle generating plant in Greensville County, Va. It said the plant will cost about $1 billion and should go into operation in 2019. It has already filed for zoning permit applications, and more regulatory applications will be filed by July. Greensville County is in southern Virginia.
More: Dominion
Work Starts on ComEd’s Grand Prairie Gateway Tx Line
Commonwealth Edison contractors began clearing trees along the route of the Grand Prairie Gateway transmission line this month. “We’re clearing the route in areas where we will be installing structures this summer and fall,” ComEd spokesman David O’Dowd said. The project was approved over vocal opposition in October by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
The line will run 60 miles through Ogle, DeKalb, Kane and DuPage counties. While construction has started, several groups have petitions to intervene and hope the ICC will force ComEd to change the line’s route. But ComEd doesn’t see that happening.
“We anticipate that certain parties will challenge various aspects of the ICC order in the appellate court, but the ICC decision is well-reasoned and consistent with Illinois law,” O’Dowd said. “We’re proceeding to implement the ICC order as required.”
More: Chicago Tribune
Complaint: Direct Energy’s Procedures Kept Unhappy Customers from Switching
A ruling by the Canadian Competition Tribunal gives the country’s Competition Bureau the green light to pursue a case against Direct Energy Marketing for water heater return policies and procedures that were aimed at preventing consumers from switching to competitors.
The action against Direct Energy alleges that many Ontario-based customers had little choice but to continue their rental agreements even if they wanted to purchase a water heater or switch to another rental provider.
The bureau is seeking a $15 million penalty and an order prohibiting Direct Energy from engaging in anti-competitive conduct in the future.
More: Marketwired
Compiled by Ted Caddell