Exelon, Groups Agree on Renewables Pact
Exelon and environmental groups have agreed in principle on a bill that could increase the building of solar projects in Illinois. The bill includes a financing mechanism that could benefit Exelon while increasing costs for its competition.
More: Crain’s Chicago Business
MARYLAND
BGE Rate Proposal Getting Scrutiny
Rate-case fatigue may be setting in as testimony and public hearings get started in the Public Service Commission’s examination of Baltimore Gas & Electric’s request to raise rates for future infrastructure work. On the heels of other rate increases, this one is generating extra controversy.
More: Baltimore Sun
MICHIGAN
Keeping Presque Isle Open Stirs Cost Worry
MISO’s determination that We Energies must keep its 430-MW Presque Isle, Mich., plant operating for regional reliability opened a debate about who should pay to keep the plant running. Loss of the coal plant’s main customer, an iron ore mine, prompted WE’s decision to suspend operations.
More: Journal Sentinel
DEQ Fracking Proposal Not Enough: Environmentalists
The Department of Environmental Quality proposed disclosure and monitoring regulations for hydraulic fracturing that is less stringent than legislation Michigan’s Democratic lawmakers have introduced. An industry group said the plan includes common-sense measures, but some environmental groups said it falls far short.
More: MLive
NEW JERSEY
CPV Plant Breaks Ground
Although the legal foundation for its state-sponsored contract has been rejected by a court, Competitive Power Ventures broke ground on its 700-MW natural gas plant in Woodridge, N.J. State-promised ratepayer subsidies may be unnecessary after all, analysts say.
More: NJ Spotlight
PSE&G Challenges Customers’ Intervention in Rate Case
Public Service Electric & Gas wants the Board of Public Utilities to prevent the New Jersey Large Energy Users Coalition’s from intervening in the utility’s infrastructure-improvement case. The coalition opposes PSE&G’s plan, called Energy Strong, whose price tag is $3.9 billion.
More: The Record
NORTH CAROLINA
AG to Appeal Duke Rate Hike, Again
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper says he will return to the state Supreme Court a second time to protest Duke Energy’s 7.2% rate increase. The high court sent the increase back to the Utilities Commission once, only to have the commission confirm its original approval. Now Cooper, a likely gubernatorial candidate, wants the court to rule on it again. He is also appealing other rate hikes.
More: News & Observer
OHIO
FE Auction Results Average $50.91/MWh
The Public Utilities Commission approved the results of FirstEnergy’s annual auction for power, in which four suppliers won contracts beginning in June 2014. The one-year product’s average price is $50.91/MWh and the two-year average price $59.99/MWh, the PUC said.
More: Reuters
Calls to Plug Submeter Regulation Gap
State lawmakers called for regulations to prevent “submetering” companies from marking up electric prices for apartment dwellers after a Columbus Dispatch investigation showed what some call price gouging. The Dispatch found that companies are charging premiums of 5% to 40% above regulated prices, often with little disclosure. Submetering markups are illegal in many other states.
More: Columbus Dispatch
PUC Trims AEP ‘Excess Profit’ Refund
American Electric Power must return $6.9 million to ratepayers for what the Public Utility Commission deemed excess 2010 earnings at its former Columbus Southern unit. The refund is about one-quarter of what PUC staff had recommended.
More: Columbus Dispatch
PENNSYLVANIA
Customer Shopping Stagnates
More than two million Pennsylvania electric customers — about 35% percent of the total — switched suppliers in the two years ending in February but the pace has slowed since then, with only 100,000 more customers signing up with discounters.
Many customers soured on shopping after their suppliers quietly boosted the prices after the terms of their initial agreement ended. Peco Energy Co. has seen a net increase of 5,000 customers since June because Peco’s default price is better than that charged by many competitive suppliers.
More: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Utilities Beef Up Against Weather Hits
More tree trimming, a newly trained emergency response team, stronger poles and two-way texting are among the steps Pennsylvania and New Jersey utilities are taking to prepare for severe weather a year after Hurricane Sandy.
More: The Express-Times
ALJ Backs PPL Line Project
An administrative law judge has recommended that the Public Utility Commission approve the 58-mile Northeast-Pocono Reliability Project that PPL wants to build from Luzerne to Wayne counties. Critics have raised wilderness, wildlife and zoning concerns.
More: The Scranton Times-Tribune
VIRGINIA
Critics Speak Out Against Cove Point LNG
Environmentalists and a homeowners group described multiple objections to Dominion’s proposed Cove Point LNG export facility at a town hall meeting. The groups are awaiting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s environmental assessment of the project.
More: Southern Maryland Newspapers
WEST VIRGINIA
Potomac Edison Hears Gripes on Meter Reading
FirstEnergy’s Potomac Edison heard customers air their gripes about the utility’s meter reading and billing at a meeting called by the Public Service Commission.
More: Your4State.com
