PSC Considering Entergy’s $133M Rate Increase
The Public Service Commission is considering a proposed settlement that would increase Entergy Arkansas rates by more than 8%.
The commissioners will vote in February on a settlement that would give Entergy an increase of $133.6 million, 20% less than the $167 million increase the utility originally sought. The settlement was reached between the utility and several entities, including the attorney general’s office and Entergy’s major commercial customers.
Entergy said the increase is needed because of improvements to its electrical infrastructure and its $237 million purchase of an interest in a gas-fired generation plant. The settlement would allow Entergy a 9.75% return on equity.
More: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
CONNECTICUT
Rooftop Solar Program Praised by Governor
Gov. Dannel Malloy showed up as a booster for a public-private partnership that brings solar panels and lower electricity bills to the state’s residents. The Solar for All initiative links residents with PosiGen Solar and Energy Efficiency, a solar system installation company.
The company offers solar panel installation under a 20-year agreement at an introductory price of $20/month for the first year if more than 50 households sign up. After the first year, the basic charge goes up to $79/month for a 6-kW system. The program is subsidized by a $5 million investment by the state’s Green Bank program as part of a way to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the state.
More: New Haven Register; PosiGen
INDIANA
Wind Turbine Shrinks School District’s Power Bill
The Shenandoah School District reported it had a zero balance on its December electricity bill, thanks to a wind turbine it installed two years ago.
According to school officials, the 900-kW turbine is intended to supply 85% of the power used by the elementary, middle and high schools. District Business Manager Julia Miller said the district pays between $105,000 and $112,000 annually for electricity, about half its bill before the turbine went into service.
Shenandoah School District used government bonds to finance the $2.6 million turbine, which is expected to pay for itself within 10 years.
More: News-Sentinel
KANSAS
Legislators Blast $20M Deal for Capitol Grounds’ Power Plant
Legislators are upset Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration signed a $20 million lease-purchase for construction of a new state power plant in Topeka that they say sidesteps legislative oversight.
Members of the House and Senate expressed frustration with the 15-year contract executed Dec. 29 because the total cost was millions of dollars higher than previously disclosed, the first payment wasn’t included in Brownback’s budget and the arrangement had not been approved by the state’s joint building committee.
In October, the Department of Administration said the heating and cooling plant to be located one block north of the Capitol would cost about $12 million. The previous estimate shared with legislators monitoring state building projects was $9 million.
More: The Topeka Capital-Journal
Bill Killing Tx Authority Criticized by Wind Advocates
A bill that would terminate the funding for the Electric Transmission Authority, which was formed a decade ago because it was thought utilities were not developing sufficient transmission lines, is being seen as a threat to future wind projects in the state.
Sen. Robert Olson, chairman of the Senate Utilities Commission, said transmission planning is now largely done by SPP and the transmission authority is unnecessary. But wind energy advocates say the state-centric transmission authority stimulated the growth of wind energy by developing a robust transmission system in Kansas.
More: Midwest Energy News
MICHIGAN
PSC Launches Investigation into Consumers’ Estimates
The Public Service Commission is investigating the way Consumers Energy estimates bills after about 300 customers last year complained about inaccurate bill estimates. The commission has asked the company to file a report by Feb. 18 detailing its staffing levels and its communications process with customers on billing estimates, along with an accounting of the number of bills that were underestimated or overestimated.
“One of the issues that has come up in our meetings is the algorithm the software uses in calculating and estimating what a bill would be,” said Judy Palnau, a PSC spokesperson. “Is it possible the algorithm needs adjusting?”
A company spokesman said it estimates bills when it is unable to read a customer’s meter.
More: Mlive
MISSOURI
Ameren to Help Noranda Smelter, Asks for Regulation Changes
Ameren Missouri said it is working with lawmakers to change utility regulations to help Noranda Aluminum, a smelter that buys 10% of the utility’s power. The smelter has threatened to shut down if it cannot reduce its energy costs.
The St. Louis utility wants regulations modeled on those in neighboring Illinois, where “near-automatic” annual rate increases are offered in return for more grid investment. The change would reduce the Public Service Commission’s authority in utilities’ rate structure and rate adjustments.
Noranda has said it will lay off almost 500 of the 850 smelter workers by February and will wind down operations by March 12 unless it can “secure a substantially more sustainable power rate for the smelter,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The announcement was prompted by a power outage that shut down two of the smelter’s three aluminum production lines.
More: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
MONTANA
CPP Rules Threaten Coal Plant, Economy Officials Say
Shutting down one or more units at Colstrip’s 40-year-old coal-fired power plant complex would devastate the state’s economy through possible job losses and higher power bills, state elected officials and industry backers said Jan. 18 in Billings.
The discussion centered on concerns that EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan, which calls for the state to reduce its carbon emissions by 47%, will have an adverse impact on Colstrip, where four power units produce 2,094 MW and employ about 350 workers. The plants are the state’s biggest producers of greenhouse gases.
The Colstrip plant has six owners: NorthWestern Energy, Talen Energy, Portland General Electric, Puget Sound Energy, Avista and PacifiCorp. The latter four market power in Washington and Oregon, where legislators are proposing new laws this year to cut cross-state purchases of coal power.
More: Billings Gazette
NEBRASKA
Local Utilities Rejecting NPPD’s 20-Year Wholesale Contracts
A dozen towns and one regional power provider have spurned Nebraska Public Power District’s demands for 20-year wholesale electric contracts.
NPPD’s current 20-year contracts expire at the end of 2021, but the utility asked its customers to commit to new contracts now to protect its bond rating. NPPD has inked new contracts with 62 of its 75 wholesale customers, which include rural public power districts and municipal buyers that made up 92% of the district’s revenue in 2014.
But some wholesale customers have opted to shop around SPP for competitive suppliers. For most of NPPD’s wholesale customers, this is the first contract negotiation in which it has been feasible to look for alternative suppliers in the RTO’s broader market.
More: Lincoln Journal Star
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Jury Slams ENH Power for Stealing Customer Info
A Superior Court jury ordered the parent company of the state’s largest competitive supplier of electricity, ENH Power, to pay more than $500,000 in damages to a smaller competitor for stealing confidential customer lists, sales leads and other proprietary information.
The Rockingham County jury found that ENH officials convinced an employee of Freedom Companies to steal the information and give it to them. An attorney for ENH vowed to appeal.
More: New Hampshire Union Leader
Anti-Pipeline Bills Reviewed by Lawmakers
Two bills introduced to impede efforts to build a natural gas pipeline through the state came under review by lawmakers, but some legislators questioned whether they have the ability to regulate interstate projects, which typically come under federal jurisdiction.
The legislation was introduced in response to Kinder Morgan’s plan to build the $5 billion Northeast Energy Direct pipeline to deliver shale gas from Pennsylvania through Massachusetts and part of New Hampshire. One bill would levy a tax on gas transported through the state, and the second would prohibit passing any of the construction charges to state residents.
Kinder Morgan has vowed to oppose the legislation. “We believe that at a time when New Hampshire residents are paying among the highest energy rates in the country, that it would be inappropriate to potentially increase those costs through a new tax,” said spokeswoman Susan Geiger.
More: New Hampshire Union Leader
NEW JERSEY
Environmental Group Fights Proposed Power Plant
The Sierra Club is protesting a Massachusetts company’s proposal to build a natural gas-fired power plant on 423 acres in Hillsborough.
Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club said the site is environmentally sensitive because of its proximity to the Delaware and Raritan Canal and it contains wetlands.
Genesis Power’s $1 billion Amwell Energy Center would generate enough electricity to power 700,000 homes.
More: myCentralJersey.com
NEW MEXICO
Town Gets Solar Farm, New Wholesale Power Contract
Guzman Energy has struck a seven-year agreement with the city of Aztec that supplies the city with power at a substantial savings from the current municipal supplier.
Guzman agreed to build a 1-MW solar farm that will generate about 8% of the city’s electricity and supply the remainder of the power from Guzman’s other assets. The new contract sets the price at 5 cents/kWh.
The agreement will replace Aztec’s expiring 10-year deal with Public Service Company of New Mexico that started out at 7.5 cents/kWh and included yearly increases based on natural gas futures, the city said. Those yearly increases mean the city is actually paying PNM closer to 8 cents/kWh.
More: The Daily Times
NEW YORK
NYC Launches Pilot to Switch Food Trucks to Solar
New York City has started a pilot program to convince mobile food vendors to switch to clean energy by subsidizing food carts that are equipped with solar panels and battery storage systems.
MOVE Systems, a New York firm that has developed carts with solar panels on their roofs, hopes the PV carts would reduce vendors’ energy costs by 20%, and could also cut greenhouse gas emissions from the city’s estimated 8,000 food trucks and carts by 60%. The carts would also have backup propane generators.
Most of the vendors now use propane or diesel generators.
More: International Business Times
NORTH DAKOTA
PSC Sets Hearing for Wind Farm, Tx Project
The Public Service Commission scheduled a public hearing for March to consider a proposed wind energy project and transmission line in Stark County.
Brady Wind, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, proposes to erect as many as 87 wind turbines to generate 150 MW of electricity at an estimated cost of $235 million. The company is also looking to build a 19-mile 230-kV transmission line from the project.
It’s the second attempt for NextEra to build a wind farm in the area. The Stark County Commission in May rejected a conditional use permit for a project of similar size, which was planned for a 61-square-mile area in eastern Stark County between Gladstone and Richardton.
More: The Bismarck Tribune
OKLAHOMA
PSO Enacts Interim Rate Increase While it Awaits Ruling
Public Service Company of Oklahoma said it will put an interim electric rate increase into effect that will generate $75 million while it awaits a final decision from the Corporation Commission on its formal $169 million rate-increase request.
Under state law, utilities are allowed to implement interim rates if they don’t get a final decision from the commission within six months. The interim rates are subject to refund if the commission doesn’t grant PSO’s full request.
The utility said that customers will actually pay less under the new rate structure because the higher rates are more than offset by lower electricity costs attributed to cheap natural gas prices. PSO said a typical residential customer using about 1,100 kW of electricity a month should see bills fall by $2.44.
More: The Oklahoman
PENNSYLVANIA
UGI Utilities Requesting Distribution Rate Increase
UGI Utilities is asking for a distribution rate increase now that a settlement with the Public Utilities Commission barring it from doing so has expired.
After a 2011 gas explosion killed five people in Allentown, the company agreed to expedite its replacement of old natural gas distribution lines, improve leak detection and pay a $500,000 civil penalty. The settlement also prohibited UGI from imposing a distribution system improvement charge for two years.
Filing for a base rate increase is a prerequisite to adding a system-improvement charge. The requested hike would raise an average residential customer’s bill by about 19.7% and a commercial consumer’s bill by about 7.4%.
More: The Morning Call
State Orders Crackdown on Methane Emissions
Gov. Tom Wolf announced a state-directed crackdown on methane emissions from shale gas wells and pipelines last week, in an attempt to address the problem of releases of the gas that had so far been unregulated. The four-part plan will involve a new permitting process for shale gas wells, a new permitting process for pipeline compressor stations and gas processing facilities, leak limits at existing gas and oil facilities, and establishment of best practices to address leaks.
Methane has 84 times the heat-trapping capabilities of carbon dioxide, another greenhouse gas that gets more attention.
“These regulations will improve our air, address the urgent crisis of climate change and help businesses reclaim product that is now wasted,” Wolf said. “The best companies understand the business case for reducing methane leaks. Methane that doesn’t leak into the atmosphere can be used for energy production.”
More: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
VIRGINIA
Draining of Dominion Coal Ash Ponds Months Away
Dominion Resources says it needs to complete design work before it begins to drain two coal ash ponds into the Potomac and James rivers.
The State Water Control Board granted Dominion permission to “dewater” its coal ash retention ponds at its Possum Point and Bremo Bluff stations. Possum Point is on the Potomac River and Bremo Bluff is on the James River. Several environmental groups, and at least one state agency, say they plan to appeal the board’s decision.
Dominion is also investigating remediating ash impoundments at two other plants.
More: Bay Journal