Opinion ID: 406396
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Evidence in Support of the Stratified Rate

Text: 39 Connecticut Light's previous efforts to develop a rate with different demand and energy charges for peak and off-peak usage were rejected. The rejections rested solely on the Commission's determination that the Company had not made an adequate showing that the stratifications tracked actual costs of service. CMEGA contends that the Company's evidence once again falls short, but we find substantial record evidence in support of the Commission's decision that this time Connecticut Light's case for the stratified rate passed muster. 40 The ALJ found that in R-4, Connecticut Light had succeeded in overcoming the chief difficulties in its earlier efforts to show that the stratified rate accurately reflected actual costs of service, see supra note 7. First, the Company had submitted more extensive evidence backing up the correlation between the load of the Northeast system and the loads of the wholesale customers: a comparison of loads on the day of peak usage in summer and winter, a similar comparison for the week of peak usage in summer and winter, and a statistical analysis of hour-by-hour load shapes in 1978. J.A. 656. Second, the Company had provided further evidence in support of the point at which it had drawn the dividing line between service to be classified as peak and off-peak. J.A. 663. The record as it stands supports the ALJ on these points, and we, like FERC, affirm. 41