Republicans push to repeal US utility monopoly law
Date: 27-Sep-02
Country: USA
Author: Chris Baltimore
The fight over electricity market reforms is slowing work to finalize a compromise energy bill that will include tax breaks for domestic oil production, conservation programs and development of renewable energy sources.
Senate and House negotiators met briefly this week to discuss electricity measures, but made little progress.
"We find problems with it," said Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, when asked by House counterparts why the Senate conferees have not accepted electricity provisions approved by House negotiators last week.
The sticking point, according to a senior Democratic Senate aide, is the House negotiators' plan to strip merger authority from FERC and repeal the Public Utilities Company Holding Act of 1935.
Repeal of the trust-busting measure for utilities can happen only if FERC gets more power to police mergers, the aide said. "The House is 180 degrees away from the Senate on FERC's merger authority," he said.
Under the House plan, FERC would be a "consulting agency" on U.S. utility mergers, but would give up its current power to block them.
Louisiana Rep. Billy Tauzin, a Republican and the top House negotiator, contends FERC's merger authority is unnecessary because of nearly identical powers held by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.
Consumer groups oppose eliminating the Depression-era law that sought to prevent utilities from accumulating too much market power.
Revelations that Enron Corp. used trading strategies to circumvent market rules and boost profits during the California power crisis are good reasons to reconsider repealing Public Utilities Company Holding Act, according to the Consumer Federation of America.
In fact, the law "must be strengthened and invigorated," the consumer group said in a letter to Tauzin and Bingaman this week.
Other contentious points in the House plan include its inclusion of eminent domain authority for FERC to step in and end protracted disputes over the siting of transmission lines. Democrats also dislike the House negotiators' refusal to require U.S. utilities to get more of their power generated from renewable sources like wind and solar, the aide said.
House and Senate negotiators will meet yesterday to try again to resolve electricity reform issues, as well as a plan to boost production of ethanol-blended gasoline.
Tauzin told reporters he hopes to complete the entire energy bill next week. It would then go to the House and Senate for approval.
