The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-12-16
APPEAL MADE TO
 HELP CONN. co.
State Utilities Commission Asked Exemption From
 Holding Cos.'s Act

Hartford, Conn, Dec. 16-CUP)- The state public utilities commits sion proposed today the federal power commission grant the Con- necticut Power Co., exemption from ths holding companies act by per- hitting restoration of its interstate power connections Ion an emer- gency basis"
 The suggestion was contained in a letter to Federal Chairman Frank MeNinch from State Chairman Col. Edwy L. Taylor, replying to Mo- Ninch's earlier request for coopera- ten to affect resumption of inter- state service.
 What Taylor Stated
 Col. Taylor wrote that at the present time the interconnections were not essential and that the lines had been severed by the participat- ing companies fin the exercise of their managerial functions. How ever, Col. Taylor proposed:
 If the federal power commission should now grant to the companies concerned exemptions from the ap- plication of the federal act upoi. the basis that the connections a. to be made for emergency uses, which appears to have been the purpose in the past, then the re- storation and use of these connec- tions for interchange of electric energy would be determined as 8 Nf
 Firm Declaration
 In firmer vein, Col. Taylor de- clared:
 If and when service or rates of patrons of the companies in Con- necticut are likely to be affected adversely by the lack of interchange facility, the Connecticut commits sion will take steps to bring about some satisfactory arrangement to meet the requirements as shall then be practicable"
 Col. Taylor wrote that the orig inal purpose of the interchange was to pool the power resources and reserve capacity of the several participating companies.
 While there may have been some public miSapprehension as to the ef- feet of cutting these connections, 1t should be understood that more than one half of the electric ener- gy transferred through them was delivered by the participating Con- necticut companies.
 Only Dumped" Power
 Substantially all of the energy generated for delivery over the lines was dumped power and it was pos- sible in an emergency for the sey- eral companies so interconnected to utilize the surplus generating ca- pacity of each company when re- quired and available: thus each company could draw upon the con- Solidated reserve of all of them, thereby avoiding the installation of additional reserve generating capa- city which might have been neces- sary to meet the requirements ot some of these companies"
 Interstate lines had been cut also by the Central Hudson Gas and Electric O., New York, and the Western Massachusetts companies.
 Impair Reliability
 The federal commission, in asking the state commission for suggestions to restore service, wrote "the de- struction of these interstate con- nections will impair the reliability of service and increase the cost of power supplied to domestic, com- mercial and industrial consumers"
 Samuel Ferguson, chairman of the Power Company board, had declared "the loss to be preferred to the states loss of sovereignty" but Sat- urday notified stockholders there had been material improvement" in earnings since the lines had been cut, as compared with a corres- bonding period last year.
 In his letter he said he desired "to correct an erroneous assump. tion" that the company's earnings would suffer adversely as result of abandoned service.
 me company, he revealed. would h reimbursed in full for investment h transmission lines by other con- cerns to which they had been leased, in event of permanent aban- donment of interstate exchange.