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25 Util. Sec. Newsl.: Periodic Rep. Members Sec. Pub. Util. L. A.B.A. 1 (1984-1985)

handle is hein.journals/infrastr25 and id is 1 raw text is: UTILITY SECTION NEWSLETTER A Periodic Report to the Members of the Section of Public Utility Law of the American Bar Association No. 2 January 1985 Page I ANTITRUST LAW WORKSHOP PLANNED A one-day workshop focusing on the antitrust laws as they relate to public utility practice will be held on March 14th at the Mayflower Ilotel in Washington, D.(. The workshop will be conducted by the Public Utility Law Section, with iLm Bouknight, chairman of the Public Utility Law Scction', Antitrust Committee, anti Sam Abrams, chairman of the Section's ad hoc committee on deregulation, as co-chairmen. Speakers will include prominent antitrust specialists from the Government and from the private bar. Among the subjects to be covered will be the relationship between deregulation and application of the antitrust laws; the effect of regulation on private antitrust litigation; obligation of firms with monopoly power; and current issues in communications, electric power, natural gas, transportation and other utilities. For further information, please call I.on Bouknight (202-955-6600) or Sam Abrams (2t02-86 I- 1600). UTILITY SECTION SELECTS NEW ABA REPRESENTATIVES Harold L. Russell, of Atlanta, Georgia, has been selected to represent the Section of Public Utility Law on the Nominating Committee of the Ilouse of Delegates of the Association. Tile Nominating Committee is now comprised of State Delegates, the Section Delegates (selected by the Conference of Section Chairmen on a rotating basis), a Young Lawyers Division Delegate, and a Judicial Administration )ivision Delegate. The Nominating Committee will meet at the Mid-year Meeting, in February; 1985, to nominate a slate of candidates for Officers and for members of the Board of Governors of the Association. Herschel Friday, of l.ittle Rock, Arkansas, will be the nominee of the Section of Public Utility Law for a seat on the Board of Governors of the Association as one of six section members-at-large. The nominations for the Board will be confirmed at the Mid-year meeting; the election of nominees will take place this summer at the Annual Meeting. REPORT OF ELECTRICITY COMMITTEE Excess Generating Capacity-Prudent Investment Standard. A new Kansas statute, Ilouse Bill 2927, gives the state commission broader authority to define excess capacity and to adopt ratemaking measures that will instlate consumers from imprudent investment decisions, specifically allowing the agency to include in rate base only a portion of plant if system capacity is adequate to meet demand; plant that exceeds the original cost estimate by 200% or more will be presumed imprudent. * • * Under Connecticut Pub. Act No. 84-343, effective October I, 1984, the state commission may allow rate recovery of all prudently incurred construction costs ftor new generating plants of I O0 megawatts or more; the costs would be added to rates in equal installments over a three- to ten-year period. The law also requires the commission to study state and regional capacity levels and decide whether cogeneration and renewable energy resources should be included in such computations. The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld the state commission's practice of denying a return on common equity for that portion of utility plant representing excess capacity, even if the original investment decision was prudent. Iowa- Illinois Gas & Electric Co. v. State Commerce Commission, 347 N.W2d 423 (Iowa 198,4). . . . A Florida commission order that reduced electric rates by $5.3 million because of excess capacity (and that found the utillty~s load forecast imprudent) has been affirmed. Gulf Pou'er Co. v. Public Service Commission, 453 So. 2d 799 (Fla. 1984). Cancelled Plant-Cost Recovery. The Massachusetts commission has ruled that electric utilities cannot recover costs associated with abandoned plants that were begun after July 21, 1984. It announced that it was abandoning the prudence standard in an effort to shift the risk of new construction to investors. Western Massachusetts Electric Co., DPU 84-25 (Mass. Dept. Pub. Utils. July 31, 1984). 0 * * An Idaho statute that prohibited a return on CWIP and property held for future use has been interpreted not to prohibit rate recovery of cancelled plant costs. Re Washington I '... Pr' - , ,Cn 13111 4th I ,7 (1d - Pob.Utils.Comm'n. 1984). (cont'd on page 2.)

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