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State Regulation of Utilities
Troutman Sanders has the premiere state regulation utility practice in the United States. The firm has represented utilities before state public service commissions since the 1920s in every type of proceeding. These representations cover the entire range of utility regulation, including rates, financing, plant construction (nuclear, gas, and coal), competitor complaints, marketing practices, power purchases, integrated resource planning, conservation programs and rulemakings. The firm is also proud of its long record of successful litigation of public utility issues in state and federal courts. Our Experience Our state regulatory practice includes the highest quality lawyers with career experiences that span several decades. Our attorneys have been nationally recognized for their work as advocates before state commissions and the courts. Our success comes from knowing the regulatory environment, understanding the issues that affect our utility client’s businesses, and consistently working on cutting edge issues and matters that set policy and precedent for the utility industry. Our lawyers come from diverse regulatory backgrounds, including significant experience working within regulatory agencies and legislative bodies. It is this diverse expertise and experience coupled with a commitment to superior service that makes us the premier place for clients to seek advice on state regulatory matters. Our Commitment Our lawyers are committed to providing our clients with the highest level of service. It is our goal to solve problems for clients in the most efficient manner possible, while ensuring that we deliver excellent results in a timely and cost-effective manner. In this regard, we understand that achieving our client’s goals means understanding our client’s business and respecting the essential role that in-house counsel and technical staff play in the process. Whether we are advising a client, litigating before a regulatory body or negotiating a settlement, we partner with the client to achieve the best result. Our Work We specialize in handling complex matters before state public service commissions: - Our lawyers regularly appear, and have extensive experience before state commissions in regulatory proceedings. We routinely manage rate cases, fuel cost recovery proceedings, certification of new generating resource proceedings and integrated resource planning proceedings. We achieve successful outcomes for our clients throughout the regulatory process, from the development of the case through litigation and resolution of the matter before the regulatory commission. We have significant experience in witness preparation and the cross-examination of opposing expert witnesses.
- We advise clients on a variety of matters that touch upon the daily operations of their regulated business. For example, our lawyers routinely advise utilities in the areas of acquiring additional generation capacity, with particular expertise in nuclear, fossil and renewable generation. We also advise our clients on territorial service matters, transmission and distribution matters and the development and implementation of demand side measures and energy efficiency.
- We serve as counsel in the development and negotiation of requests for proposals (RFPs) for power purchases. This includes extensive experience in the development of the RFP process and negotiating power purchase and ancillary agreements. We provide ongoing support for contract management of power purchase agreements, including change of control transactions, contract amendments, and amendments to the public convenience and necessity certificates.
- The breath of Troutman Sanders' experience in the area of the state regulation of utilities means our clients have the unique advantages of working with lawyers who have a proven track record of successfully handling traditional utility cases and the capability to tackle new and emerging utility issues. Our clients have the flexibility to seek advice on individual issues or to fully utilize our lawyers to represent them before their state commissions and regulatory authorities in the primary cases that impact their businesses.
Recent highlights include: - Obtained certification of one of the first two new nuclear facilities to be constructed in the U.S. in the past two decades. We continue to represent this client before the state public service commission through the commission’s ongoing construction monitoring process.
- Represented two utilities in connection with their separate applications before their respective state regulatory agencies for recovery of accounting for early development costs related to the development of new nuclear power plants.
- Represented a large utility client in recent rate and fuel cases.
- Obtained approval to construct an 800 megawatt super critical pulverized coal ("clean coal" technology) facility, over strong opposition from environmentalists, the state attorney general, industrial customer organizations and local press.
- Obtained certification and guaranteed cost recovery of a utility's self-build project that included three 800 megawatt combined cycle facilities and the decertification of two existing coal facilities. We overcame strong community opposition to construction of the plant resulting from the urban location of the facility, and the siting of the natural gas pipeline to serve the facility and successfully represented this client in the public utility commission’s ongoing review of construction and cost of the project.
- Obtained certification of two 620 megawatt combined cycle units that were purchased in mid-construction from third parties. Independent power producers and customer groups mounted a significant challenge to certification with regard to the valuation of the units.
- Counseled utility clients in all matters and activities concerning competitive Requests for Proposals (RFP's), including the creation of the RFP criteria and development of the pro forma contracts, negotiations with the winning bidders, preparation of witnesses for certification hearings and successful contract certification to ensure cost recovery by the state public service commission. In the past three years, we have been involved in numerous RFPs throughout all stages of RFP development, bid evaluation, contract negotiation and contract certification for the procurement of more than 9,000 megawatts of baseload, intermediate and peaking capacity and energy, including green energy resources (biomass, landfill, solar).
- Obtained approval of integrated resource plans, which include electricity demand and energy forecast, programs for meeting energy requirements in an economic and reliable manner, analysis of capacity resource options, including supply-side and demand-side options, fuel mix analysis and environmental impacts. Successful approval of the most recent plan was achieved through a fully litigated proceeding in which consumer groups, environmentalists and industrial customer organizations intervened and fully participated.
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