APPA Washington report: mergers and merchants.(Washington D.C. Report)

Bulletin (Northwest Public Power Association), March, 2006 by Varela, Robert

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) got a lot of things--but not everything--right in a final regulation implementing its new authority over mergers, granted by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Asking the commission to revise and clarify its final rule, APPA and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) said that changes are necessary to "afford consumers a complete, permanent, and effective bond of protection from excessive rates and charges" as required in the Federal Power Act.

Absent such changes, consumers face the possibility of exploitation following the repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935. Adding to the risk are the sales of generation assets--in many cases to affiliates of already dominant investor-owned...

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