Broderick Resigns from ACC After 1-Year Stint
Thomas Broderick, the director of utilities for the Corporation Commission, is leaving after a little more than a year on the job. Broderick provided no reason for his departure and said he was not taking another job.
Broderick was hired last summer after a nationwide search to replace the longtime agency staffer who previously held the position, which manages 60 regulatory experts and oversees a $5.5 million budget. Commission Chair Doug Little said he was “truly disappointed” to see Broderick go.
His departure comes as the commission considers a pending rate case for Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest utility.
More: The Arizona Republic
CALIFORNIA
IID to Launch Biggest Battery in West
The Imperial Irrigation District (IID) will inaugurate a $38 million battery storage facility next month, the largest power storage unit in the western U.S.
The 30-MW facility will be capable of discharging as much as 20 MW in an hour. The massive battery will help the publicly owned utility to firm up intermittent output from the region’s renewable resources and to support the grid in the face of unexpected problems.
“The energy industry is ever-changing and fast-paced, and regulations are changing daily almost, it seems like,” IID spokesman Robert Schettler said. “So this is a way we’re trying to get ahead of an issue.”
More: KPBS
COLORADO
Boulder Approves Annexation Package
The Boulder City Council voted unanimously to approve the annexation of 16 properties adjoining the city, overcoming an obstacle in its bid to municipalize the electric distribution system of Xcel Energy.
The annexation eliminates the need to build separate distribution facilities to serve those customers after Boulder takes ownership of Xcel’s local system. The state Public Utilities Commission had ordered the city to pay for construction of separate facilities to allow Xcel to continue to serve the customers in unincorporated Boulder County.
The annexation prevents “a lot of unnecessary, expensive additional construction,” according to the city staff.
More: Daily Camera
KENTUCKY
Customers to Cover Upgrades at Coal Plants
Kentucky Utilities ratepayers will pay an additional surcharge to cover the utility’s environmental upgrades through 2024 under a settlement approved in early August by the Public Service Commission.
The PSC said the surcharge amount increases over time, beginning with 30 cents in 2016 and climbing to $1.37/month in 2017 and $2.32 in 2018. The amount crests in 2022 at about $3.32/month.
KU and Louisville Gas & Electric asked the PSC for permission to spend more than $900 million on pollution-control measures at their coal-fired plants to comply with federal coal ash storage requirements and to limit emissions under EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxic Standards.
More: Lexington Herald Leader
MARYLAND
PSC Revamps Shutoff Regs After Customer Deaths
The Public Service Commission has approved new notification requirements for service terminations after a Princess Anne family that was using a generator inside their home for heat died of carbon monoxide poisoning last year.
Delmarva Power had removed the home’s electric meter after it discovered that it had been stolen and terminated service to the home.
Under the new regulations, customers whose service is terminated because of allegations of theft or hazardous conditions must be notified by the utility, either in person or in writing, and the notice must include safety precautions. The utility must also notify the commission within one day of the cancellation. The PSC would then add the address to a database for use by local governments, so they can provide assistance to the customer.
More: Maryland PSC; The Baltimore Sun
MICHIGAN
Regulators Say No Reason to Shut Down Mackinac Pipelines
State regulators say they found no evidence to support an order to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5, a pair of underwater petroleum pipelines that go under the Straits of Mackinac, and ordered more studies into their integrity.
Environmental advocates who have called for a shutdown accused the state of dragging its feet. They complained that the studies by the Department of Environmental Quality could take 18 months to complete. The department said it was unable to shut the pipeline down without “clear violations” of environmental easements and evidence that there is “imminent threat” of pipeline failure.
More: Midwest Energy News
MONTANA
Proposed Bills Would Slap Fees on Colstrip Owners
The State Legislature’s Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee has drafted seven bills that would impose millions of dollars in fees on the Colstrip power plant’s owners for 10 years following the closure of two of the plant’s units.
The committee will decide next month whether to file the bills for the 2017 legislative session. Closure of the units by 2022 is required in a legal settlement filed last month.
More: The Associated Press
NorthWestern Fails Again to Recover Costs from Outage
The Public Service Commission has rejected NorthWestern Energy’s second attempt to pass on costs related to a 2013 outage at the Colstrip power plant to consumers through a rate increase. The PSC rejected the company’s appeal of an earlier decision by a 3-2 vote.
NorthWestern had to buy $8.2 million of electricity on the market when a malfunction shut down Colstrip’s Unit 4 three years ago. The commission in March found that the outage was avoidable and NorthWestern didn’t meet requirements for the replacement costs to be passed along to consumers.
“I’m not sure what part of ‘no’ NorthWestern doesn’t understand,” Commissioner Roger Koopman said in a press release.
More: Billings Gazette
Land Board Approves Lease For Potential 70-MW Wind Farm
The Land Board approved the lease of 450 acres near Billings for a possible 70-MW solar development. The lease includes a two-year option to MTSun while regulators conduct an environmental study.
More: Billings Gazette
NEW MEXICO
Regulators Approve PNM’s Energy Contract for Facebook Data Center
The Public Regulation Commission last week unanimously approved a special services contract between Facebook and Public Service Company of New Mexico outlining how the state’s largest utility would supply power to the technology giant’s proposed data center.
The contract, approved Aug. 17, describes a mechanism for providing renewable energy to the data center, which would include the construction of three solar facilities and a high-voltage electric line. Under its terms, PNM would receive about $31 million a year for providing electricity to the data center.
The Los Lunas Village Council has already approved up to $30 billion in industrial revenue bonds for the project.
More: Albuquerque Journal
NORTH CAROLINA
Erin Brockovich Points to State In Call to Set Toxin Standard
Famed environmental activist Erin Brockovich cited the ongoing coal ash dispute in the state in a request to EPA to set groundwater standards for hexavalent chromium.
A state toxicologist had warned residents living near Duke Energy coal ash storage sites that tests showed unsafe levels of the compound, a finding disputed by Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration. Brockovich pointed to the dispute in a letter she and the Environmental Working Group sent to EPA calling on the agency to set safety levels of the compound.
“It is clear that the delay [in setting safety levels] is sowing confusion among state and local regulators, utilities and the public about how much hexavalent chromium is safe in drinking water,” the letter reads. The current federal level for the compound is 100 parts per billion. It was set 25 years ago and is considered by many to be outdated.
More: News & Observer
OKLAHOMA
Settlement Results in $30.3M Windfall for OG&E
The Corporation Commission approved a $30 million settlement that allows Oklahoma Gas and Electric to recover some lost revenues from its popular SmartHours energy efficiency program. More than 110,000 residential OG&E customers have signed up for the program.
OG&E will recover $30.3 million for lost revenue from 2013 to 2015, when the case was first filed.
The settlement among the utility, the commission’s public utility division and the OG&E Shareholders Association resolves a dispute in calculating the amount of lost revenue under SmartHours. The division said the annual amount was closer to $5 million.
More: The Oklahoman
PENNSYLVANIA
Refunds Start Flowing from Polar Vortex Settlements
Utility customers are beginning to see refunds as state officials conclude their cases with energy suppliers accused of misleading consumers about energy prices during the polar vortex of 2014.
Customers of Pennsylvania Gas and Electric, IDT Energy and Hiko Energy will receive $15.6 million. Respond Power will pay $4.1 million. One case, against Blue Pilot Energy, is pending.
More: The Morning Call
WYOMING
State Considers Increasing Nation’s Only Wind Output Tax
A proposal by lawmakers to raise the state’s tax on wind output is meeting resistance from a large wind farm developer.
Bill Miller, CEO of the Power Company of Wyoming, which has proposed building two wind farms rated at 3,000 MW total, is attempting to thwart the tax increase. “Just about every legislator we’ve met with asks us, ‘You tell us how much we can tax you before we put you out of business,’” said Miller. “I just shake my head and say, ‘Zero.’”
The state is the only one in the country that taxes output from wind turbines, currently collecting $1 for every megawatt-hour produced. The state’s take since implementing the program: $15 million. Power Co.’s proposed Chokecherry and Sierra Madre projects could potentially triple revenues.
More: Los Angeles Times