Colorado Legislature Rejects Delay of Coop Renewables Mandate
Posted on Feb 3, 2014 in Environmental, Legislative & Politics, Rates, Regulation & Policy, Renewable Energy | Comments Off on Colorado Legislature Rejects Delay of Coop Renewables Mandate
The Colorado legislature passed a bill in 2013 mandating that, by 2020, twenty percent of power generated by rural electric cooperatives come from renewable sources. Representative Kathleen Conti proposed a subsequent bill that would delay the mandate’s implementation until 2025, but Colorado’s House Transportation and Energy Committee voted 8-5 against Conti’s bill in January. Those...
Sioux City Looks to Settle Excessive Fee Claims
Posted on Feb 3, 2014 in Legislative & Politics, Litigation, Rates, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Sioux City Looks to Settle Excessive Fee Claims
Residents in multiple Iowa cities have filed lawsuits claiming that franchise fees added to customers’ utility bills by those cities were excessive and amounted to an illegal tax. Despite the Iowa legislature’s subsequent passing of a law legalizing franchise taxes of up to 5 percent, many cities will be forced to settle the claims. Customers of Woodbury County Rural Electric...
Vermont Coop Spends More than $7 Million on Damage from Ice Storm
Posted on Jan 24, 2014 in Grid & Infrastructure, Rates | Comments Off on Vermont Coop Spends More than $7 Million on Damage from Ice Storm
Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) recently spent an unprecedented sum to repair damage caused by recent ice storms. While the cost is significant for a coop of VEC’s size, the coop’s goal is to find efficiencies and other ways to avoid rate increases. Another utility in Vermont recently announced a “storm surcharge” to cover its storm-related costs. Read more here.
Public Power Council Continues to Voice Support for Adjustments to Hydro Power Treaty
Posted on Dec 19, 2013 in Environmental, Rates, Renewable Energy | Comments Off on Public Power Council Continues to Voice Support for Adjustments to Hydro Power Treaty
Following up on recent regulatory filings, the Public Power Council, which represents cooperatives and other consumer-owned utilities, voiced its continued support for adjustments to the Columbia River Treaty. The Public Power Council and others are seeking a more even distribution of hydro power benefits between the United States and Canada under the treaty. Various interest groups...
Kentucky PSC Grants Rehearing on Big Rivers
Posted on Dec 13, 2013 in Litigation, Rates, Regulation & Policy, Reliability | Comments Off on Kentucky PSC Grants Rehearing on Big Rivers
The Kentucky Public Service Commission will reconsider the revenues Big Rivers Electric Corporation (Big Rivers) is positioned to receive for its continued operation of a power plant required by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator for reliability reasons. Big Rivers’ opponents claim that the coop understated the revenues it will receive from continued operations by roughly...
Second Hawaiian Coop on the Horizon?
Posted on Dec 12, 2013 in Project Development, Rates, Renewable Energy | Comments Off on Second Hawaiian Coop on the Horizon?
Molokai may be the second island of Hawaii (Kauai being the first) to purchase its utility and establish an electric coop. High rates are at the root of current tensions between residents on Molokai and their utility Maui Electric Company, a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Company. Molokai is also considering a large generation project that would power the island using only renewable...
Big Rivers Seeks PSC Approval for New Smelter Deal
Posted on Nov 25, 2013 in Economic Downturn, Legislative & Politics, Rates, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Big Rivers Seeks PSC Approval for New Smelter Deal
Kentucky-based Big Rivers Electric Corporation (Big Rivers) is seeking approval from the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) of a deal that would allow a Big Rivers customer, Century Aluminum (Century), to purchase power for one of its Western Kentucky smelters on the wholesale market. Century maintains that such an arrangement is necessary to keep the smelter open. The PSC...
Vermont Coop to Build 5-MW Solar Project
Posted on Nov 12, 2013 in Climate Change, Environmental, Financing, Grid & Infrastructure, Innovation/Efficiency, Project Development, Rates, Regulation & Policy, Reliability, Renewable Energy | Comments Off on Vermont Coop to Build 5-MW Solar Project
The Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) is hoping to build the state’s largest utility-owned solar power project as part of a broader effort to help reduce the state’s dependence on fossil fuels. VEC is working with 14 other coops across the country on the 5-MW project in a first-of-its-kind initiative to make solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of electricity by the end of...
Alaska Coop to Buy Private Utility
Posted on Nov 12, 2013 in Grid & Infrastructure, Mergers/Acquisitions, Project Development, Rates, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Alaska Coop to Buy Private Utility
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has recently approved an asset purchase agreement in which Alaska Village Electric Cooperative will buy the assets of Bethel Utility Corp., a privately owned utility. This acquisition will boost the Anchorage-based coop’s overall demand for electricity by more than 50 percent and resulting in savings for new members. Read more here.
Native American Reservation Reaches Settlement with New Mexico Coop
Posted on Nov 12, 2013 in Grid & Infrastructure, Land Use, Legislative & Politics, Litigation, Rates, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Native American Reservation Reaches Settlement with New Mexico Coop
Northern Rio Arriba Electric Coop (NORA) has reached a deal with the Jicarilla Apache Nation for the Nation to purchase all of NORA’s infrastructure on the Northern New Mexico reservation. This settlement effectively ends two years of litigious hostilities between the utility and the Nation, whose lawyers said Nation officials are displeased with NORA’s service and are ready to end a...
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