North Carolina's Highest Court Validates Local Regulator's Assertion of Veto Over Proposed Wholesale Power Contracts
The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled July 1 that the North Carolina Utilities Commission ("NCUC") can exercise veto power over certain wholesale power contracts "” contracts that would confer on wholesale customers a higher priority than accorded to a Tar Hill State utility's retail native-load customers. In so ruling, the court rejected the argument that FERC's exclusive jurisdiction over wholesale sales preempted the state commission's assertion of this veto power. The case arose out of a 1998 plan by Carolina Power & Light (since renamed Progress Energy Carolinas) to build two plants...