FERC last week gave the go-ahead for American Transmission Co. and Wisconsin Power & Light to swap a combined $830,000 worth of assets (EC16-61).

Under the agreement, WPL will acquire five ATC substations valued at $458,820 in exchange for $370,863 in transmission-related equipment, which include a power transformer, storage batteries, 138-kV line frames and foundations, poles and historical air brake switches. The Wisconsin-based companies said the move will better “align ownership of the relevant facilities by function,” providing WPL new distribution facilities while handing ATC more transmission assets, which will be turned over to the operational control of MISO.

Both companies will pay current net book value for all facilities in cash without an acquisition adjustment. ATC said the transaction will have “virtually no effect on transmission rates,” noting that the difference in value between the assets being exchanged is only a “tiny fraction” of the company’s total net utility plant of $3.4 billion. WPL receives nearly all of its transmission services from ATC.

— Amanda Durish Cook