Green Energy
- Coal To Clean Power: The Oregon Legislature Considers A Bill To Replace Coal-fired Electricity Generation With Clean Energy
By Amelia Schlusser, Staff Attorney The Oregon legislature is currently considering a bill that aims to reduce the generation andPGE and PacifiCorp own shares in the Colstrip Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in Montana use of coal-fired...
- Begging To Differ: Federal Courts Strike Down State Contract-for-difference Schemes
By Nick Lawton, Staff Attorney The Third and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeal recently struck down measures in New Jersey and Maryland, respectively, which had aimed to promote in-state electricity generation by essentially setting wholesale electricity...
- Distributed Generation Rate Reform Around The U.s.
By Nate Larsen, Energy Fellow The idea of reforming the retail electricity pricing model to more accurately reflect the actual cost of utility services has been around for some time, but the rapid growth of customer-owned distributed generation...
- Exelon Wind V. Nelson: The Fifth Circuit’s Questionable Legal Analysis
By Amelia Schlusser, Staff AttorneyThis post continues the discussion raised by GEI DirectorMelissa Powers’s post regarding the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision in Exelon Wind v. Nelson. In that decision, a majority of the court ruled...
- The Truth Finally Surfacing
Electricity prices to rise 37% – solar power only a bit playerA report from the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) estimates residential electricity prices are projected to jump by 37 per cent in nominal terms on average by 2014....
Green Energy
Federal regulators kill electricity rate hike
Charges reversed!
Federal regulators today overturned an order that would have zapped New York City residential electric bills by 10 percent to 12 percent.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission acted barely 24 hours after Albany lawmakers passed a law that eliminated the reason for the shocking price increase.
If FERC’s original ruling stood, New Yorkers — who already pay some of the nation’s highest electricity prices — would have forked over an estimated $1.5 billion to the generating companies over the next three years.
"Ding, dong, the electricity rate hike’s dead!" crowed Sen. Charles Schumer, who griped about the whopping increase in a phone call to FERC chairman Jon Wellinghoff.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/federal_regulators_overturn_order_i0JjJLUaDHUXzVBcUNYjuJ#ixzz1MqcaN6IV
Federal regulators today overturned an order that would have zapped New York City residential electric bills by 10 percent to 12 percent.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission acted barely 24 hours after Albany lawmakers passed a law that eliminated the reason for the shocking price increase.
If FERC’s original ruling stood, New Yorkers — who already pay some of the nation’s highest electricity prices — would have forked over an estimated $1.5 billion to the generating companies over the next three years.
"Ding, dong, the electricity rate hike’s dead!" crowed Sen. Charles Schumer, who griped about the whopping increase in a phone call to FERC chairman Jon Wellinghoff.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/federal_regulators_overturn_order_i0JjJLUaDHUXzVBcUNYjuJ#ixzz1MqcaN6IV
New York City rate payers can breathe a sigh of relief this summer knowing they won’t be forced to carry the burden of a double digit rate hike while power generators laugh all the way to the bank," Schumer said.
The Post first reported the shocking increase last month, and followed up with stories showing how FERC has failed city consumers.
Meanwhile, Schumer, Gov. Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg ramped up their battle against the rate hike, which FERC had granted to electric generating companies with plants in New York City.
Con Ed, which passes on the generators’ charges to consumers without markup, also joined the fight.
"It’s a fantastic decision for our customers. There was no reason for them to be hit with this unjust rate hike," said Con Ed spokesman Michael Clendenin.
Generating companies had claimed that city property-tax breaks they get as a matter of routine are not written into state law, they’d have to charge customers as if they were paying full property taxes.
Federal regulators were not swayed by the city’s promise to give the tax breaks to the plants on its own.
While city, state and other groups battled FERC’s reasoning by filing papers with the commission, the Legislature also went to work on a bill that would write the generators’ property tax breaks into law.
In its 41-page ruling, FERC said that after Cuomo signed the law on Wednesday, there was no longer any need for the whopping rate boost.
"This development ameliorates the concerns that the commission had," the commission said in the ruling, posted on its Web site late in the afternoon.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/federal_regulators_overturn_order_i0JjJLUaDHUXzVBcUNYjuJ#ixzz1Mqc55aBD
The Post first reported the shocking increase last month, and followed up with stories showing how FERC has failed city consumers.
Meanwhile, Schumer, Gov. Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg ramped up their battle against the rate hike, which FERC had granted to electric generating companies with plants in New York City.
Con Ed, which passes on the generators’ charges to consumers without markup, also joined the fight.
"It’s a fantastic decision for our customers. There was no reason for them to be hit with this unjust rate hike," said Con Ed spokesman Michael Clendenin.
Generating companies had claimed that city property-tax breaks they get as a matter of routine are not written into state law, they’d have to charge customers as if they were paying full property taxes.
Federal regulators were not swayed by the city’s promise to give the tax breaks to the plants on its own.
While city, state and other groups battled FERC’s reasoning by filing papers with the commission, the Legislature also went to work on a bill that would write the generators’ property tax breaks into law.
In its 41-page ruling, FERC said that after Cuomo signed the law on Wednesday, there was no longer any need for the whopping rate boost.
"This development ameliorates the concerns that the commission had," the commission said in the ruling, posted on its Web site late in the afternoon.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/federal_regulators_overturn_order_i0JjJLUaDHUXzVBcUNYjuJ#ixzz1Mqc55aBD
- Coal To Clean Power: The Oregon Legislature Considers A Bill To Replace Coal-fired Electricity Generation With Clean Energy
By Amelia Schlusser, Staff Attorney The Oregon legislature is currently considering a bill that aims to reduce the generation andPGE and PacifiCorp own shares in the Colstrip Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in Montana use of coal-fired...
- Begging To Differ: Federal Courts Strike Down State Contract-for-difference Schemes
By Nick Lawton, Staff Attorney The Third and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeal recently struck down measures in New Jersey and Maryland, respectively, which had aimed to promote in-state electricity generation by essentially setting wholesale electricity...
- Distributed Generation Rate Reform Around The U.s.
By Nate Larsen, Energy Fellow The idea of reforming the retail electricity pricing model to more accurately reflect the actual cost of utility services has been around for some time, but the rapid growth of customer-owned distributed generation...
- Exelon Wind V. Nelson: The Fifth Circuit’s Questionable Legal Analysis
By Amelia Schlusser, Staff AttorneyThis post continues the discussion raised by GEI DirectorMelissa Powers’s post regarding the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision in Exelon Wind v. Nelson. In that decision, a majority of the court ruled...
- The Truth Finally Surfacing
Electricity prices to rise 37% – solar power only a bit playerA report from the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) estimates residential electricity prices are projected to jump by 37 per cent in nominal terms on average by 2014....