Dec 18 - Arizona Daily Star
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Wednesday ordered Arizona Public Service Co. to pay $4 million for violating rules governing power transmission services in 2002 and 2003.
APS and TEP, which were ordered to correct procedures that led to the
violations, said they were inadvertent and the problems have been corrected.
In Washington, D.C., FERC found that APS "on numerous occasions" in
2002 did not arrange needed "point-to-point" transmission services
when making off-system sales, and didn't disclose key information.
Utilities must make their transmission systems available to wholesale power
merchants under federal rules adopted in the mid- 1990s. Because information on
available capacity can affect pricing for transmission services, federal rules
require utilities to share such information with the overall market as it
becomes available, via real-time electronic systems.
As a result of the findings, the agency ordered APS to pay $1.25 million to
fund low-income assistance programs and $2.75 million to upgrade a 230-kilovolt
power line, the subject of one citation. APS cannot recover the payments from
ratepayers.
APS has worked with the FERC staff to resolve the violations, which in some
cases resulted in differing interpretations of federal rules and in some cases
were self-reported by APS, said said Steve Wheeler, APS executive vice president
of customer service and regulation.
TEP was ordered to pay for potential overcharges caused by its failure to
post transmission capacity data on time. FERC officials at Wednesday's meeting
said the amount would likely be under $25,000; TEP estimated it at between
$5,000 and $10,000. For far more extensive news on the energy/power
visit: http://www.energycentral.com
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