Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 30, 1993 TAG: 9309300167
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The dispute involves utilities operated by Bedford, Martinsville, Danville and Richlands.
The utilities want to buy power from PSI, an Indiana utility, and want the commission to order Appalachian Power to transmit that power.
A section of the 1992 Federal Energy Policy Act requires that utilities open up access to their power lines.
However, at a hearing Wednesday, Apco argued that its contract with the smaller municipal utilities requires that they buy all their power from Apco, according to Barbara Connors, a commission spokeswoman.
The smaller utilities, however, argue that they only have to buy a specified amount of electricity from Apco.
The commission decided that the issue appears to be a contract dispute and ordered an expedited review of the matter by an administrative law judge, which should be completed within the next two months, Connors said.
The basis for the dispute is a difference in contract interpretation, Apco spokesman Don Johnson said Wednesday. "We concur that an early decision is in everyone's best interest," he said.
If the judge eventually finds the matter is one of open access and the commission agrees, then other issues such as the public interest and the effect on electric rates will have to be taken into consideration before the commission decides whether to order Apco to transmit the power, Connors said.
Apco has suggested that the plan to buy power from the Indiana utility could lead to power shortages and possibly higher electric bills for customers of the utilities involved.
Bedford officials have complained that Apco charges localities that run their own utilities more for power wholesale than it charges its own industrial retail customers.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.