Study of the impacts of regulations affecting the acceptance of Integrated Community Energy Systems: public utility, energy facility siting and municipal franchising regulatory programs in Louisiana. Preliminary background report

Abstract

The authority to regulate public utilities is vested generally in the Louisiana Public Service Commission, composed of five members elected by the general electorate and elected for six-year terms. The Commission is charged with regulating all public utilities and has such other regulatory authority as provided by law. The Commission, however, has no power to regulate a public utility owned, operated, or regulated on the effective data of this constitution (1921) by the governing authority of one or more political subdivisions unless the Commission is authorized to regulate these utilities by the electorate of the political subdivision involved. An additional statutory provision excludes all municipally-owned public utilities from Commission regulation. New Orleans has retained the regulatory authority which it held as of the effective date of the Louisiana Constitution. Therefore, the Commission exercises no regulatory powers over investor or municipally-owned utilities in New Orleans. A municipality is empowered to own and operate a revenue-producing public utility within or without its boundaries and it may sell and distribute the commodity or service of the public utility within or without its corporate limits and may establish rates, rules, and regulations with respect to the sale and distribution. Public utility regulatory statutes, energy more » facility siting programs, and municipal franchising authority are examined to identify how they may impact on the ability of an organization, whether or not it be a regulated utility, to construct and operate an ICES. « less