Opinion ID: 6936498
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Commission’s Hearing Order

Text: The City of New Orleans filed a complaint with FERC, seeking relief from alleged adverse rate consequences from the transfer of capacity to EPI. In response, FERC set for hearing “the narrow question of whether overall billings will increase under the Enter-gy System Agreement as a result of the transfer of AP & L’s ownership interests in the two units and, if so, whether those higher charges reflect prudently incurred costs which may be reasonably passed through the Entergy System Agreement’s formula rates.” City of New Orleans v. Entergy Corp., 54 F.E.R.C. ¶ 61,298, at 61,865, reh’g denied, 55 F.E.R.C. ¶ 61,221 (1991). 1 In the same Hearing Order, however, FERC noted that the effect on ratepayers of any eventual replacement costs would depend on several highly speculative factors. Thus, the Commission concluded that it would be premature to decide the prudence question finally until the actual need for replacement capacity arose, and dismissed without prejudice the portion of CNO’s complaint requesting investigation into the costs associated with adding future capacity. See id. at 61,865-66.