State Offers Incentives for Electric Vehicles
The state is offering a cash rebate of up to $3,000 to buyers of electric cars. An incentive program offers customer rebates and will provide dealers with bonuses for selling electric or hydrogen vehicles. The incentive program is funded by $1 million that the state received as a condition for approving the 2012 merger of Northeast Utilities and NStar into Eversource Energy.
The funds are enough to offer rebates for as many as 457 electric or hydrogen vehicles. The program will allocate $800,000 for cash rebates and $200,000 for dealer bonuses.
The state has 1,625 electric vehicles registered as of May 18. The rebates are available to state residents, businesses and municipalities that buy or lease electric vehicles. Fifteen vehicle models qualify.
More: Hartford Courant
Eversource, Advocates Spar over Fixed Charges
Boston-based consumer advocacy group Acadia Center and Eversource Energy are sparring over a state bill that would cap fixed-rate charges to customers of electric utilities. An Acadia report found that more than half of Eversource’s customers would see their electric bills decrease if the legislation, which would cap fixed-rate charges at $10, is approved.
Eversource argues that more than half of its customers would see an increase in their overall bill if the fixed charge is lowered and that a $10 fixed charge is more regressive than a $19.25 fixed charge. Daniel Sosland, Acadia’s president, said the utility is misleading lawmakers. An Eversource spokesman said the company stands by its analysis of the legislation’s impact.
More: New Haven Register
DELAWARE
Consultant Advises Against Creating Purchase Pool
A statewide electricity purchase pool, as an alternative to Delmarva Power & Light’s standard offer, is unlikely to bring customer savings, and costs could be higher under some scenarios, according to a state consultant advising against the idea.
Exeter Associates reported the conclusion after a nationwide survey of aggregation programs. State lawmakers called for a study last year.
However, state officials could consider other options, Exeter said, including allowing customers to specify shares of electricity from renewable power sources or options that let customers specify peak use times.
Delmarva has about 260,000 customers who subscribe to the company’s standard offer.
More: The News Journal
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Opposition Against Exelon-PHI Merger Grows as Comment Window Nears Close
A fifth councilmember came out Friday against Exelon’s proposed $6.8 billion acquisition of Pepco Holdings Inc., expressing “serious concerns” about the deal in a letter to the district’s Public Service Commission. The 27th of the district’s 40 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions formally opposed the deal.
The district is the last entity to decide on the merger, which Maryland regulators narrowly approved on May 15 and Delaware approved several days later. Public comment in the district closes May 27. (See Update: Md., Del. PSCs OK Exelon-Pepco Deal.)
“While it is clear that this merger would provide great benefit to PHI shareholders, the benefits to ratepayers do not appear proven or clear,” Councilmember Brianne Nadeau said.
Should the commission approve the merger, she said, members should consider using the proposed Customer Incentive Fund to support development of renewable energy sources for low- and fixed-income residents.
More: Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau
MAINE
PUC Won’t Reconsider Funding
The Public Utilities Commission won’t reconsider its controversial decision to cut $38 million in proposed funding from an energy efficiency program. The commission’s 2-1 vote means that funding the Efficiency Maine Trust will fall to the legislature. The trust subsidized the purchase of 2.5 million energy-efficient light bulbs for consumers last year and helped more than 3,000 businesses convert to energy-saving equipment.
The PUC voted in March not to provide the funding for the trust, after a close review of language in the 2013 energy law showed that a single word was missing, apparently as the result of a clerical error. On Wednesday, PUC Commissioners Mark Vannoy and Carlisle McLean argued that petitioners for reconsideration had not brought forward additional information to support changing the panel’s March 17 decision.
More: Portland Press Herald
MARYLAND
Bowie Homeowners Tapping into Solar Savings
Bowie homeowners are beginning to take advantage of a solar cooperative purchasing program sponsored by the city and Maryland Sun, a renewable energy nonprofit organization.
Thirteen residents have signed contracts, 18 are considering proposals and 12 have site visits scheduled, said Maryland Sun program director Corey Ramsden.
At 157 committed members, Bowie is the largest collective the group has created in the state. It has 27 similar co-ops running in Maryland, D.C., Virginia and West Virginia.
More: Gazette
MASSACHUSETTS
Vote Authorizes Eversource Strike
A union representing 1,900 Eversource Energy workers in the state has authorized its leaders to strike over stalled negotiations on a new contract. The current contract expires at midnight on June 1.
The Utility Workers Union of American Local 369 said its members voted “overwhelmingly” to allow the strike if its leaders so choose. The union said in a statement that Eversource and the union have been unable to agree on provisions about staffing, health care and the possible elimination of a no-layoff clause.
More: Hartford Courant
MINNESOTA
Minnesota Power’s Great Northern Tx Line Gains OK from PSC
The Public Serivce Commission approved Minnesota Power’s certificate of need for its 500-kV Great Northern Transmission line, a crucial step in the estimated $710 million project. The 220-mile line would deliver hydro power from Manitoba to northeastern Minnesota.
A separate route permit is pending. So is a permit from the U.S. Department of Energy to approve the cross-border line.
More: North American Wind Power
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Eversource Legislative Deal Endangered
Legislation that would pave the way for an orderly sale of Eversource Energy power plants was pulled from the House floor at the last minute last week. The bill would set the stage for a “universal settlement” on a variety of utility issues that would affect customer rates. Eversource has proposed to sell its power plants, but who would pay for the losses that would be incurred is a sticking point. (See Eversource to Sell New Hampshire Plants.) Some legislative leaders also are concerned the bill would pre-empt an ongoing review of electric rates by the Public Utilities Commission.
More: New Hampshire Union Leader
NEW JERSEY
South Jersey Gas Makes New Push for Pipeline
South Jersey Gas last week filed an amended application including “new details” with the Pinelands Commission seeking approval for a 22-mile pipeline that would carry natural gas to a power plant in northern Cape May County.
The proposed pipeline, which would largely follow a roadway through part of the protected, 1.1 million-acre Pinelands Forest Management Area, has been criticized by conservationists and four former governors. The Pinelands Commission blocked it last year in a 7-7 vote.
But the project is heavily supported by Gov. Chris Christie, who since then has replaced a long-time advocate on the commission with a new member, Robert Barr, who has not disclosed his position on the project.
With the retirement of the Oyster Creek nuclear plant in 2019, PJM and the state Department of Environmental Protection have said that repowering the B.L. England plant — which would use natural gas instead of coal — is necessary to retain reliability on the grid.
More: NJSpotlight
NEW YORK
NYPA, Union Contract Finalized
The New York Power Authority has approved a contract with about 560 workers from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, including about 215 at the Niagara Power Project in Lewiston. The deal is retroactive to April 2011, when the previous contract expired, and runs through March 31, 2019.
The contract includes wage increases for each year starting in 2014 and requires the union members to increase their contributions to the cost of their health insurance. The wage increases are 3.5% in 2014, 2% in 2015 and 2016 and 2.5% in 2017 and 2018. IBEW members who have been working at NYPA since the expiration of the previous contract will receive a $4,000 lump-sum payment; others will receive a pro-rated payment.
More: Buffalo News
Snow Damaged Solar Array
Heavy winter snow caused ground-mounted photovoltaic panels at a large solar farm in Feura Bush to collapse. The 4.5-acre facility is owned by Constellation Energy, which sells power to an Owens Corning insulation plant next door. Owens Corning has said that the farm will be able to offset the costs of about 6% of the factory’s electricity needs. None of the panels went offline during the winter but all need to be remounted for optimal position.
More: Albany Times Union
NYSEG Seeks Rate Hike
New York State Electric & Gas filed for an increase in electricity delivery charges that would add about $8 to the average residential customer’s monthly electric bill. The increase would cost consumers about $126 million. NYSEG said it needs the increase to help pay for an expanded program to manage vegetation along the 35,000 miles of electric lines it maintains across its upstate service territory. The company also is seeking to recover more than $260 million in restoration costs that it incurred during storms such as Sandy in 2012. State regulators would review the proposal over the next 11 months, with the earliest effective date in May 2016.
More: Buffalo News
OHIO
FirstEnergy Heading to Hearings on Income Guarantee
Hearings begin in June on FirstEnergy’s request for an income guarantee for seven plants in the state, a case that already has generated thousands of pages of filings with the Public Utilities Commission.
Under the plan, the plants would be guaranteed enough income to cover costs plus a profit. Consumers would make up the difference if the actual income fell short; if the plants exceeded their targets, customers would receive credits.
The FirstEnergy plan affects Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, the coal-fired W.H. Sammis plant and the company’s share of jointly owned coal-fired plants.
PUCO has rejected similar proposals from American Electric Power and Duke Energy, but it said their underlying concept was legal.
More: The Columbus Dispatch
Murray Energy CEO Predicts More Layoffs
More layoffs will be coming soon for Murray Energy because of low prices and demand for the coal it mines, its CEO said last week. The St. Clairsville company operates 13 mines in West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky and Utah.
“We had 8,600 employees until last month. We’ve had to reduce some since then. I can’t keep all those jobs,” Robert E. Murray told a gathering of the North American Coal Bed Methane Forum.
Coal prices are down about 10% from a year ago. Murray blamed low demand on environmental rules and cheaper natural gas.
“If I had to describe today’s coal industry … I call it extremely dangerous,” he said. “Not from a safety standpoint, from survival.”
More: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; Pittsburgh Business Times
PENNSYLVANIA
PUC OKs PECO’s Updated, Pricier Long-Term Upgrade Plan
The Public Utility Commission approved PECO Energy’s updated long-term gas infrastructure improvement plan, which is expected to cost the Philadelphia-based company more than $534 million and take two decades to complete.
The two-year-old plan was amended earlier this year, in part to speed up the replacement of at-risk natural gas mains. While those pipelines make up just 12% of the entire system, they are responsible for nearly all of PECO’s leaks.
Under the proposal, spending on upgrades would jump from $34 million to $61 million by 2018. Total costs would rise from the initially forecast $371.3 million to $534.4 million.
More: Natural Gas Intel
RHODE ISLAND
Ferry Built to Service Wind Farm
Rhode Island Fast Ferry has been awarded a 20-year contract to operate a specialized boat for the construction and maintenance of a five-turbine wind farm that Deepwater Wind will install in waters near Block Island starting this summer. The new vessel will transport workers to and from the offshore wind farm, which will be the first of its kind in the U.S. The company will spend $4 million to build the boat and train crew members to operate it. It is expected to be ready to provide crew and equipment support in spring 2016 in advance of the installation of the turbines for the Block Island Wind Farm.
More: Providence Journal
TEXAS
Fearing Levee Breach, Entergy Shuts Down Hydro Plant
Entergy took its Lewis Creek units 1 and 2 offline Saturday night in order to lower reservoir water levels and reduce the risk of levee failure.
“This is absolutely the right decision for the protection and safety of Montgomery County residents and the long-term reliability of the plant,” said Sallie Rainer, CEO of Entergy Texas. Company and MISO officials said that taking the two 271-MW units offline will not result in any immediate reliability issues.
On Thursday, Entergy Texas notified local authorities of the potential for a failure due to heavy rainfall that saturated the earthen dam near Willis. The company is hauling in truckloads of limestone rock to stabilize the base of the levee.
More: Entergy
WISCONSIN
3 Down, 2 to Go in Wisconsin Energy-Integrys merger
The Public Service Commission last week finalized its approval of Wisconsin Energy Corp.’s $9.1 billion acquisition of Integrys Energy Group.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Michigan Public Service Commission previously signed off on the deal. The Wisconsin PSC had only indicated verbal approval.
That leaves regulators in Illinois and Minnesota next to give their blessings. Any drama likely would come from Illinois, where Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel late last year asked the state Commerce Commission to reject the acquisition.
More: Green Bay Press Gazette