Utilities

TVA Proposes Rate Increase

TVA chairman Glenn McCullough said recently that TVA officials are meeting with distributors and customers to discuss a rate increase of its power to meet the costs of equipment upgrades as a result of the Clean Air Act. A rate hike of 5.9 percent is being discussed. TVA has already invested nearly $1 billion since 1998 on emission controls and is expected to spend almost $3 billion more by the end of the decade.

Thumbs Up for Progress Energy Plant

Florida Power's (Progress Energy) Crystal River nuclear power plant has received federal approval to expand power production. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved Florida Power's request to boost production at the Crystal River 3 unit by eight megawatts.

Progress Energy Offers Location Lure

Businesses that move into a vacant property formerly served by Raleigh-based CP&L (Progress Energy) can receive a 50 percent discount on electricity during the first year of operations. Stipulations includes the property must have been vacant for at least two months, the company must use at least 500kw or more of power, employ at least 35 40-hour-a-week employees or invest at least $200,000 in the deal.

Bank of America Approved to Trade Power

As we reported in the last edition of SB&D, it will be large banking concerns who will pick up the scraps left in the energy trading debacle and most likely benefit greatly from it. Case in point: Bank of America was recently approved by the FERC to trade wholesale electricity, a deal that would have been laughed at just two years ago.

Florida Utility, State of Florida Team on Energy Project

Florida Power & Light along with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have partnered to study greener energy sources that might reduce the Sunshine State's future reliance on imported fuels. The next generation energy sources to be studied and possibly put into place in Florida include fuel cell technology and solar energy.

Mirant Reducing Southern Presence

In yet another strong indication that deregulation of the electric energy industry is years away in much of the South, Atlanta-based wholesale power trader Mirant is planning to decrease its presence in its own backyard and increase it in the Northeast and Midwest. Officials with Mirant said the change in strategy is centered on markets that have fair rules for all energy participants and proper market structure. Mirant owns 3,100 megawatts in the Northeast and 1,400 megawatts in the Midwest.

Mirant Scraps North Carolina Plant

It was big news in Gastonia, located west of Charlotte, when officials with Atlanta-based Mirant announced in August of 2001 it would build a $500 million power plant in the city. In January, Mirant officials decided the company will scrap plans to build the plant. As indicated above, the energy trading company is reducing its visibility in the South.

Troubled Aquila Breaks Even on Kansas Wind Farm

Not unlike other energy providers, 2002 was a bleak year for Kansas City-based Aquila. But found in the mire was the utility's breakeven investment in Kansas' largest wind farm. The Gray County Wind Farm, built on 12,000 acres in Montezuma, Kan., and owned by FPL Energy initially seems to be a good thing for Aquila. FPL sells all of its power produced at the farm to Aquila.