(Download) "Southern California Edison Co. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission" by District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Southern California Edison Co. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
- Author : District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
- Release Date : January 11, 1998
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 74 KB
Description
Argued October 16, 1998 On Petition for Review of Orders of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Williams, Circuit Judge: Petitioner Southern California Edison Company (""Edison"") is an electric utility, and Southern California Gas Company (""SoCal"") is a gas distributor-a local distribution company or LDC. To supply gas for the generation of electricity, Edison buys firm gas transportation service on the pipeline systems of both El Paso Natural Gas Company and SoCal. In a curious way (described below), Edison is not only a direct customer of El Paso, but, through SoCal, a kind of indirect customer. In 1995 El Paso filed new transportation rates with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under § 4 of the Natural Gas Act, 15 U.S.C. § 717c, and made an offer of settlement to which most of its customers agreed. Edison objected, raising claims that in a disputed rate case would have entitled Edison to a hearing (according to the unreversed determination of the administrative law Judge, El Paso Natural Gas Co., 78 FERC ¶ 63,006 at 65,131 (1997)). The Commission approved the settlement as ""uncontested,"" protecting Edison's interests as a direct customer by severing it and allowing it to pursue its objections outside the settlement. But the Commission denied Edison any right to either severance or litigation in its role as an indirect customer of El Paso. See El Paso Natural Gas Co., 79 FERC ¶ 61,028, reh'g denied, 80 FERC ¶ 61,084 (1997). Finding the Commission order inconsistent with the settlement precedents of both the Commission and this court, we reverse. Edison's role as an indirect customer of El Paso arises from gas industry restructuring. SoCal formerly sold gas both to its ""core"" customers (largely residential as we understand it) and to non-core ones such as Edison. As a result of restructuring, it now sells gas only to its ""core"" customers. SoCal still sells transportation services to the non-core customers. Thus Edison buys gas and ships it via El Paso to California, and via SoCal to its generating stations.