About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

33 News: Periodic Rep. Members Sec. Pub. Util. Comm. & Transp. L. A.B.A. 1 (1992-1993)

handle is hein.journals/infrastr33 and id is 1 raw text is: AD   E TO  OF  PU -Lt  UT LT , C FM N A OS  . AND..  S R A I.  LIAS

Nientfli t' of  Ii
of f'ii1fli IOI I  l

-OL A33, NO. 1I FALL                                                                         t 1992

President Signs
Energy Policy Act
Law Reforms Holding Company Act, Grants
Transmission Access to IPPs and Electrics
On October 24, 1992, President Bush signed into law the
National Energy Policy Act of 1992, including amendments to
the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA). The
Energy Act heralds a new era for the electric utility business.
Among other points, it allows an electric utility to own or operate
an independent power project without becoming a public utility
holding company, as defined by PUHCA. Thus, utilities can
acquire IPPs without obtaining a PUHCA exemption from the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, the act elimi-
nates regulatory constraints in PUHCA for two classes: (1)
registered holding companies who acquire an interest in an IPP,
and (2) any other company that might acquire interests in more
than one IPP.
N Exempt Wholesale Generators. The PUHCA ex-
emption extends to electric generating facilities that produce
power exclusively for wholesale, and to foreign IPPs even if
engaged in retail sales.
* Qualifying Facilities. The Energy Act also contains
implications for qualifying cogeneration and small power pro-
duction facilities (QFs) that enjoy special regulation under the
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). The
new Energy Act states that control of EWGs will not cause the
owner to be considered (under PURPA) as a company primarily
engaged in the generation or sale of electric power. Thus, under
the Energy Act, electric utilities (and others) that own EWGs can
also acquire a majority equity stake in a QF.
* Transmission Access. The Energy Act also grants
additional authority to the FERC to mandate transmission access
for electric generators, including IPPs, EWGs, and QFs. In
setting rates for transmission service under the new Energy Act,
the FERC must permit recovery of all legitimate and verifiable
economic costs associated with the transmission service.

Fall Council Meeting
T he Section's Fall Council Meeting was held in
Naples, Florida on October 15-18, 1992, and fea-
tured a symposium on the future of deregulation in the
electric, gas, telecommunications, airline, and railroad
industries.
Heading the list of program speakers was Peter
Huber, the engineer-turned-lawyer (Ph.D., Massachu-
setts Institute of Technology; J.D., Harvard Law School)
who has written widely on the interplay between law,
economics, and technology. Section members can read
his candid remarks in this issue (see page 2), along with
other speaker presentations on utilities and deregulation.
The symposium at the Fall Council Meeting
brought together other views as well, with speakers
covering deregulation topics running the gamut from
antitrust to labor to administrative law, to name a few.
Readers should look for these and similar features in
upcoming newsletter issues.
Fall Deregulation
Symposium
Highlights from Speakr Presentations
at the Section's 1992 Fall Council Meeting
  Communications and Beyond
*  The Electric View
  Railroad Deregulation

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most