The El Paso City Council last week voted unanimously to reject a $71.5 million rate increase by El Paso Electric.

Unless the city and utility can negotiate a settlement by Dec. 15, which is the deadline for reaching an accord with the city, the dispute will head to the Public Utility Commission of Texas for a final decision.

The utility filed a rate increase request with the city on Aug. 10, asking for a 12% increase for residential and small commercial customers, a 24% rate increase for solar residential customers and large increases for government agencies and other classes of customers.

More: El Paso Times

Rockland Capital Illinois Plant $2 Million Behind on Taxes

Rockland Capital, owner of the Grand Tower Energy Center power plant in Illinois, told The Southern Illinoisan in a statement last week that it is “not in the financial position to make tax payments based on the current assessment.” The company has failed to pay more than $2 million in property taxes on the 490-MW combined-cycle plant to Jackson County.

Rockland has argued for a 93% reduction in assessed value, from $100 million to $7 million. The company has been battling the county on the issue for two years. “Despite our repeated attempts to negotiate in good faith — including initiating mediation efforts with a well-respected retired Illinois judge of many years and making the assessor’s office aware of the plant’s difficult financial situation — our efforts have been rebuffed,” the company said in a statement.

Jackson County Treasurer Sharon Harris-Johnson said the company has until Jan. 18 to pay the tax arrearage, which is accumulating interest. If it does not pay its back taxes by the deadline, she said, it will be subject to a tax sale.

More: The Southern Illinoisan

OCC Hearings Begin for PSO’s $169M Rate Case

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is focusing on details of a settlement Public Service Company of Oklahoma entered into with EPA over compliance with emissions rules, which is at the heart of the utility’s request to raise rates to pay for $169 million in environmental upgrades.

Steve Fate, PSO’s director of business operations support, said the utility entered into the EPA settlement to resolve part of a federal plan imposed on Oklahoma for regional haze. The utility plans to retire one coal unit in 2016 and another coal unit in 2026 at its Northeastern Station plant to comply with the regulations.

The utility is seeking to boost customer bills by 14% next year to cover its compliance costs.

More: The Oklahoman

Xcel’s SPS Labor Force Requesting Market-Equity Raise

More than 800 employees of Xcel Energy’s Southwestern Public Service subsidiary are requesting a wage increase to keep pace with the pay of Xcel’s other operating units, a demand the company called “unreasonable and unachievable.”

Employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers say they are not being paid equal wages compared to employees at Xcel’s other units, including Denver-based Public Service Company of Colorado.

“Workers in our area have not had an increase in two years,” said Robert Melton, IBEW business manager. “Workers here just want to be paid equal to what everyone else with their skills are being paid.” Negotiations are ongoing.

More: Carlsbad Current-Argus

Kemper Project Costs Continue to Climb

Mississippi Power has announced it will spend another $62 million finishing construction on a coal-gasification power plant in eastern Mississippi, pushing the total cost to almost $6.5 billion.

The company said ratepayers would not be liable for the new set of overruns, which were needed to finance changes and repairs after the Kemper County power plant underwent test runs. About $4.2 billion of the project is eligible for recovery in rates. Southern Co., the utility’s parent, will write down $2.3 billion of the $6.5 billion project.

More: Associated Press

Municipal-Owned Power Plant Shuttered After 100 Years

The municipally owned Peru power plant, a coal-fired generator that has stood since 1911 and was the sole supplier of electricity to the northern-central Indiana city until the 1970s, will retire on Jan. 1.

The Peru Utilities Service Board voted Dec. 4 to shut down the plant, saying it would have been too expensive to upgrade it to comply with regulations introduced under the Clean Power Plan. The plant has only operated for a few days a year since 2009.

Now Peru’s utilities board needs to decide whether to demolish or mothball the facility. A study commissioned by the utility has estimated it would take $4.8 million to raze the plant, while a mothballed facility would cost $140,000 annually to maintain.

More: Kokomo Tribune

NRG to Shutter Illinois Coal Plant

One of the Illinois coal-fired plants that NRG Energy bought out of bankruptcy last year won’t be bidding in PJM’s upcoming capacity auction and will likely be shuttered in a few years. The company said its 510-MW Will County Unit 4 is struggling to be competitive in a wholesale market dominated by low-cost natural gas and an increasing amount of low-cost renewables.

The unit is one of two remaining at the plant. Unit 3, a 251-MW coal-fired unit, was closed by NRG earlier this year. At that time, NRG said it would continue running Unit 4 as long as it was profitable. But the notice that the unit would not be participating in the capacity auction in practical terms means a permanent closure is imminent. The unit has 70 employees.

“After analyzing forecast market conditions, NRG has determined that we cannot justify continued operation of Will County Unit 4 … beyond May 2018,” NRG spokesman David Gaier wrote in an email.

More: Crain’s Chicago Business

GE to Supply Turbines for Pa. Power Plant

General Electric will supply two gas turbines for the 1,029-MW Caithness Moxie Freedom power plant in Luzerne County, Pa., which will generate enough power for nearly 1 million homes when it becomes operational in 2018.

The combined-cycle plant is being jointly developed by Moxie Energy and Caithness Energy.

GE Energy Financial Services is offering $592 million in senior secured credit facilities for the plant’s construction and operation.

More: Power Technology

PPL Names Bergstein Vice President, Treasurer

PPL has named Joseph P. Bergstein its treasurer and vice president for investor relations, effective Jan. 1.

The 16-year veteran Bergstein was previously vice president for investor relations and financial planning. The move is part of a plan to consolidate functions within PPL’s corporate finance organization.

Bergstein takes the place of Mark Wilten, vice president, treasurer and chief risk officer, who will be leaving the company Jan. 31.

More: PPL

GM Assembly Plant to Tap Clean Energy in 2016

The General Motors assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, next year will derive 40% of its electricity from wind power, enough to build up to 125,000 trucks a year.

GM announced Dec. 10 it has signed an agreement with EDP Renewables of North America to purchase power from its Hidalgo Wind Farm in South Texas. Fifteen of the wind farm’s 260-foot tall turbines will be dedicated to GM’s energy needs, the company said.

More: The Dallas Morning News