| 1997 Fiscal Review Appropriations - Regulated Industries |
The 1997 Legislature enacted several relatively significant amendments affecting the telecommunications industry, which included clarifying the limits of local authority in the management of right-of-way for telecommunications carriers, establishing telecommunications cooperatives to aggregate demand in high-cost service areas, strengthening the law against slamming, establishing a pilot study on voice messaging services, and broadening extended telephone service opportunities for areas within the same school district.
The legislation on right-of-way definitions (Chapter 123) clarifies that local units of government may not set fees beyond actual management costs for telecommunications right-of-way users and, furthermore, that they may not discriminate among competing carriers. Management tools for which costs can be recovered include:
Cable operators are excluded from this coverage; thus, municipalities may continue to charge franchise fees to cable operators.
Disputes among telecommunications carriers and local units of government are to be settled by binding arbitration.
Chapter 68 strengthened the state's anti-slamming provisions by defining slamming by telephone communications carriers as a consumer fraud. Slamming is the changing of a customer's carrier without the subscriber's verified consent.
The session also enacted a pilot study for voice messaging services to persons who do not have telephones, a study and recommendations for changes of the telephone assistance program, and a study on the impact of geographic deaveraging of retail and wholesale telecommunications rates.
Gas and Electric Utilities
The 1997 legislative session enacted some legislation dealing with the likely advent of competition in the gas and electric energy area by making some changes in the area of customer-specific ratemaking and gas utility performance regulation.
Chapter 191 refunded the Legislative Electric Energy Task Force with a clear charge to review, analyze, and make recommendations relating to restructuring the electric energy industry.
The law also specifically focuses on an analysis of issues relating to the impact of the state personal property tax on the competitive situation of Minnesota electric power producers.
This chapter also broadened the use of competitive rates for specific large customers who have alternative choices for the purchase of energy. The change allows contracts for discretionary rates for large customers in the utility's exclusive service area or to potential customers who are not a customer of a Minnesota utility. Offers for discretionary rates must be filed with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the Public Service Commission, and the Attorney General. PUC approval is required.
The 1997 session permits performance regulation plans for utilities that provide natural gas service. Performance regulation already exists for gas utilities in the area of gas purchasing adjustments. This provides incentives for gas utilities to make wise gas contract negotiations. This legislation extends this type of regulation to services provided by such utilities. The rate must be set on a reliable and reasonable benchmark approved by the PUC. This is designed to provide incentives in cost savings in delivering services to customers.
The Legislature also enacted a provision that allows the PUC to direct nuclear generating utilities in Minnesota to remit federal fees designated to achieve long-term storage of nuclear waste to the Commissioner of Public Service to be deposited into an interest-bearing escrow account. The funds are to be released to the U.S. Department of Energy when a nuclear waste storage facility exists.