Opinion ID: 395152
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The specific potential seller and buyer are contractually identified;

Text: 8 2. The magnitude, time and duration of the transaction are specified prior to the commencement of the transmission; 9 3. It can be determined that the transmission capacity will be available for the term of the contract; and 10 4. The rate for such service is sufficient to compensate FPL for its costs. 11 (J.A. p. 2207, quoting from Docket No. ER77-175, transcript p. 118). The staff further requested that FP&L be required to include this statement of policy in all future transmission service agreements. 12 The Commission deferred action on the staff motion for approximately a year and a half. During the interim, FP&L filed 16 additional interchange transmission service schedules, each of which was accepted for filing, suspended, and consolidated into Docket No. ER78-19, et al. 8 Some of these filings were to amend previously filed rate schedules. Each of these schedules provided for interchange transmission service at the identical, postage-stamp rate, 9 with supporting evidence based on cost data from the same 1978 test year. 10 13 The Commission granted the staff's motion in an order issued December 21, 1979. 11 The Commission ordered FP&L to file a tariff, in substitution for the 18 separate filings..., incorporating the provisions of the several transmission service agreements at issue, including the four criteria governing FP&L transmission service availability which were recited in the testimony of Mr. Ernest Bivans in Docket No. ER77-175.... (J.A., p. 2212). The Commission justified the requirement that a tariff be filed in lieu of individual agreements on several grounds. The objectives of Section 205(c) of the Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 U.S.C.A. § 824d(c) (West 1974), 12 and Section 35.2 of its Regulations, 18 C.F.R. § 35.2 (1980), as well as administrative efficiency, would better be served with a single tariff than by the maintenance of numerous service agreements. The similarity of the filed agreements and the proximity of the filing dates indicated that, as a matter of fact, the policy of availability did control FP&L's decision of whether to grant requested transmission. Also, because a postage stamp rate is involved with each individual agreement, FP&L would be required in the future to demonstrate that any service at a different rate to a new customer would not be unduly discriminatory, making the filings a tariff service in substance. 14