Regulator: State can hit deregulation deadline

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2000 | 9:32 a.m.

Don Soderberg, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission, said Wednesday that debate over rules governing access to transmission lines could delay action by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission beyond the March 1 deadline.

The state Legislature set the deadline last summer when it revised the law on electric utility deregulation. It gave Gov. Kenny Guinn authority to delay the start of competition if the governor deems it necessary.

Guinn on Wednesday released letters that Soderberg and Commissioner Richard McIntire sent to him on preparation for electric power deregulation.

"Everything our (state) commission in fact needs to get done will be done" in time for the deadline, McIntire said.

"I'm skeptical about resolving (transmission line rules) for March unless a settlement gets all the parties on board," McIntire added.

The federal regulatory body, not the PUC, will decide how to control access to transmission lines, McIntire said.

FERC may consider one of several options for governing access by competitors to the transmission lines of Nevada Power Co. and Sierra Pacific Power.

It could approve a so-called open-access transmission tariff which would specify rates that competitors pay and rules that govern access to transmission lines.

Another alternative would be to establish the Mountain West Independent Scheduling Administrator to oversee control of transmission line use in Nevada. Mountain West has no funding, however, and encountered criticism over the way it picked a consulting firm for computer systems.

Yet another alternative would be to contract with the California Independent System Operator, a nonprofit group that manages transmission lines for former monopoly utilities and new competitors.