The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court, issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Regulatory Bulletin.
TELECOM
California
The PUC has named Arocles Aguilar as its new General Counsel. The PUC said that Ms. Aguilar is experienced in the areas of management and the practice of regulatory, energy, environmental, bankruptcy, employment, and administrative law, as well as state contracting and regulatory finances. Ms. Aguilar holds a J.D. from Berkeley Law. The PUC’s General Counsel leads the Legal Division, which represents the people of the State of California, the PUC, and the PUC staff in actions and proceedings involving any question under the Public Utilities Code or under any order or act of the PUC.
Tennessee
The Tennessee Regulatory Authority approved the establishment of new guidelines for Tennessee’s 2-1-1 service. Tennessee 2-1-1 is a statewide community access phone number that residents can dial to get important information about an area’s community services. The services may include volunteer opportunities, protective services, legal services, and utility information and much more. The guidelines include standards for 2-1-1 service providers regarding accreditation of 2-1-1 call takers, the handling of 2-1-1 calls, reporting requirements, and transfer or abandonment of 2-1-1 service.
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ENERGY
New Jersey
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (Board) ordered a reduction of over 18% of the distribution portion of Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) rates after determining that its customers had been overcharged for electric service. However, costs associated with major storms of 2012, which the Board deemed prudent and recent Board modification of the consolidated tax adjustment calculation reduced the revenue reduction from about $115 million to approximately $35 million. The expected rate impact for a typical JCP&L residential customer using 1000 KWh of electricity per month will be a saving of 1.2% or an average of $1.68 off their monthly electric bill after the storm costs incurred by the company from Superstorm Sandy are also taken into account. For more details, see Press Release.
