Each electric utility owned by BURN MORE COAL is regulated at the state level with respect to rates and service under a comprehensive set of laws enacted by state legislatures. The existing generating fleet of each utility was selected and installed only after public notice/comment/intervention followed by proceedings where the plants were authorized and constructed. The plants were then placed in service with earnings generated through rates charged consumers that included reasonable rates of return on investment made plus operating costs including fuel and depreciation.
Each plant installation or closure is subject to a specific proceeding, but utilities also put everyone on notice by planning ahead and filing those plans for comment and approval under procedures established by each state. Coal plant closure proceedings are under way in many states. Many utilities have also filed plant closure plans for future years under a procedure styled as an “Integrated Resource Plan.”
In all instances and with each utility, the role of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners is extremely important. NARUC is the only place where all of the nation’s regulators meet and discuss issues of the day on an ongoing basis. A cursory review of the NARUC web page presence indicates its robustness, including holding periodic meetings on a myriad of issues and twice-a-year policy summits to discuss issues of the day relevant to NARUC member regulators. It is also a place where each regulator in each state with a coal plant can be reached and the Burn More Coal story told.
The 2019 NARUC Winter Policy Summit will be held in February in Washington, DC. The event has many sponsors, including trade associations for oil and natural gas producers, oil refiners, nuclear plant operators, and wind and solar generators — but no coal. One of the highlighted events will be an electricity supply debate with the participation the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) — which promotes 100 percent “clean Energy” and advocates removal of coal generation. NRDC is a constant participant in NARUC events.
Pro-coal interests have never before effectively responded to NRDC at NARUC. A primary goal of Burn More Coal will be proactive, pro-coal engagement at NARUC, pursuing the value of social development through coal electricity thus advancing the long term interests of shareholders in utilities with coal generation.
