Welcome to Dorsey’s Energy Law: Month in Review. We provide this update to our clients to identify significant developments in the previous month. ...more
On September 22, 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2022 NOPR) setting forth proposed utility incentives for expenses and investments relating to...more
At its December 2021 Oral Argument Session, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania will hear arguments in three consolidated cases involving the installation of smart meters by electric utilities. A smart meter is part of a...more
A court of appeal invalidated a water district’s adopted rate increases, concluding that the district failed to meet its burden under Proposition 218 of establishing that the increases did not exceed the cost of providing the...more
The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) recently ruled in favor of Walton EMC in a dispute arising from a textile manufacturing plant that was transformed into a plant producing pet food. Georgia Power Company v. Walton...more
FERC: No Rehearing on Potomac Pipeline - "A federal commission this week turned down a request to rehear its approval for a proposed natural-gas pipeline under the Potomac River." Why this is important: In 2018, the Federal...more
A Washington state federal court recently addressed claims relating to rates that cryptocurrency mining companies pay for electricity in Grant County, Washington. The court rejected all of the miner’s legal claims. The...more
The IMO and the Price of Gas or The Impact of the International Maritime Organisation’s Sulphur 2020 Limit for Marine Fuel Oil on the Price of Gas - The main bunker fuel for ships is High Sulphur Fuel Oil (HSFO, with...more
The International Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes Between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID) is a treaty aimed at encouraging and facilitating private foreign investments in developing countries,...more
The Pennsylvania (PA) Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision on August 20 in PPL Electric Utilities Corp. v. City of Lancaster, invalidating a municipality’s efforts to impose annual fees on utilities to occupy public...more
Rate Case Process Workshop - In November 2018, the Staff of the Commission asked the Commission to open a workshop titled: “In the Matter of a Workshop Docket to Explore the Ratemaking Process,” and filed a draft rule for...more
Ameren Missouri Wind Farm Applications - Seeking to take advantage of the expiring Production Tax Credits, Ameren applied on May 21, 2019 for a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity to build a 400 MW wind farm in...more
On August 31, 2018, the California Legislature passed Senate Bill (“SB”) 901, which addresses a number of wildfire-related items relating to public utilities. Governor Brown signed the Bill into law on September 21, 2018....more
The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives recently passed legislation regarding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC or Commission) review of certain transactions as well as judicial review of rate changes that...more
In April 2018, Bricker & Eckler published an overview of Ohio’s current energy storage landscape, which discussed recent Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) decisions with battery storage pilots, the Federal Energy...more
The City of Riverside’s transfer of electric utility service charge revenue to the City’s general fund for general purposes was upheld last week by a California Appellate Court. ...more
In a choice between infrastructure reinvestment and a direct pass-through of the tax savings to ratepayers, the Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PA PUC) has chosen a direct pass-through and claimed...more
On Thursday, March 15, 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) issued a series of orders and notices to address changing the treatment of income tax costs in rate setting for oil and natural...more
At its February 15, 2018, Open Meeting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the “Commission”) issued Order No. 841 (the “Final Rule”) to remove barriers to the participation of energy storage resources in the...more
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (the Commission) has initiated an investigation into the potential impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the act) on regulated Ohio public utilities and their customers (PUCO...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has the authority to order a public utility to refund to its customers rates that FERC determines to be unjust and unreasonable. But what if FERC later determines that the...more
Yesterday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (“MPUC”) approved a settlement between Xcel Energy and various intervening stakeholders, to resolve the revenue requirement issues in Xcel Energy’s pending multi-year rate...more
On April 14, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a decision that could cause short-term uncertainty for electric utilities, whose rates for transmission service, including the allowed rate of return,...more
In its final meeting of 2016, FERC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking in which it proposes changes to its standard interconnection rules and agreement for generators with a capacity of more than 20 megawatts. The proposed...more
On October 20, 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (“ANOPR”) seeking comments on potential revisions to (1) the Commission’s policies for...more