MEUW - Live Lines

Federal Surface Transportation Board Chair Charles “Chip” Nottingham flew to Wisconsin to hear first hand the challenges captive rail shippers are having with the rail industry. His Sept. 14 visit to Oshkosh was at the request of US Representative Tom Petri, who for the last several years has heard horror stories from constituent companies about the lack of service from rail companies.

MEUW is affiliated with BadgerCURE (Consumers United for Rail Equity), a coalition consisting of more than 40 organizations and companies in the State that share concerns on the lack of responsiveness and exorbitant price increases from rail companies. Executives and managers from utilities, agriculture, the paper industry, foundries and other organizations met with the STB Chair for more than two hours.

Nottingham indicated that since he has been the chair of the STB, he has worked to streamline the complaint process and ensure that the STB isn’t the “same old STB” when it comes to rail customer concerns. Congressman Petri sits on the House Transportation Committee, the body reviewing legislation that would force rail companies to be more accountable and forthright in their operations.

Currently there are four bills, two in the Senate and two in the House that address many of the captive shippers’ concerns. Rail companies, however, believe it is an attempt to re-regulate the industry and have called for tax incentives to help spur further investments in rail systems.

To learn more about the captive shipping issue and the bills pending in Washington, go to: http://www.railcure.org/.

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Wisconsin’s Cable Bill Should at Least
Match Illinois’ New Law
By Curt Witynski, Assistant Director, League of Wisconsin Municipalities

Wisconsinites deserve the same as Illinoisans when it comes to oversight of cable TV. Illinois recently passed a much more balanced cable bill than the industry drafted proposal currently before the Wisconsin Legislature. Wisconsin’s “video competition” legislation, Assembly Bill 207, should contain the same consumer protections, public access television support, public rights-of-way safeguards, and benefits for property taxpayers as the new Illinois law.

Consumer Protection. The Illinois law contains extensive customer service protections addressing all aspects of cable company practices, including billing and termination of service. In contrast, the Wisconsin bill is an effort at deregulation that includes only minimal consumer protections.

For example, the Illinois law allows customers to disconnect their service at any time within the first 60 days after subscribing or upgrading the service, without being subject to any fees, charges or penalties by the cable company. The Wisconsin bill doesn’t address this consumer issue.

Also, in Illinois, the attorney general and local governments may enforce all customer service standards in response to complaints by local residents by imposing fines. The Wisconsin bill provides no penalties for violations of its slim service standards. All a state agency or municipality would be able to do in response to consumer complaints is file an action in circuit court asking the judge to force the cable company to comply with the law.

What’s more, under the Illinois law, a cable provider must make an annual report to the state and local governments on how well it is complying with customer service standards. The report must identify the number and type of customer complaints the cable company received over the prior year. The Wisconsin bill contains no such requirement.

Support for Public Access TV. While the Wisconsin cable bill prohibits cable providers from contributing even a small amount toward the cost of operating municipal, school and public access channels, the Illinois law requires cable providers to help support such channels by paying municipalities a fee equal to 1% of the cable company’s gross revenues. This payment is in addition to the up to 5% franchise fee that both the Illinois law and Wisconsin bill require cable providers to pay municipalities.

Cost of Managing Public Rights-of-way. Both the Illinois law and Wisconsin bill allow municipalities to impose reasonable regulations on cable providers’ use of the rights-of-way. However, while the Illinois law allows a municipality to charge cable providers right-of-way permit fees covering the cost of administering permits and inspecting any work done in the right-of-way, the Wisconsin bill prohibits municipalities from collecting such fees. The Wisconsin bill forces municipalities to recover the cost of managing cable providers’ use of the rights-of-way exclusively from the franchise fee.

In-Kind Services. Under the Illinois law, all cable and video providers must provide free basic service to all current and future public buildings, including municipal offices, public libraries, and public schools. This is largely the practice now under municipal franchise agreements, and, like franchise fees, is part of the reimbursement cable companies make for using the rights-of-way for profitable gain. No similar requirement exists in the Wisconsin cable bill. Rather, the bill prohibits municipalities from making such a demand.

These are examples of what might be included in Wisconsin’s cable legislation if it wasn’t drafted exclusively by AT&T and the cable industry. Wisconsin’s cable bill, if enacted without changes, is a gift to cable and telecommunications companies that will keep on giving. The Wisconsin Senate should amend AB 207 to include reasonable regulations modeled after the Illinois law that protect consumers, support public access television, allow municipalities to effectively supervise use of the rights-of-way, and provide property taxpayers with benefits for allowing private, for-profit use of the public rights-of-way.

This opinion column was first published in the August 19, 2007 issue of the Wisconsin State Journal. It is reprinted with permission.

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Seven Teams Representing Nine Communities Competed
Cedarburg Takes 2007 Rodeo Title

Under a warm blue sky in Oconomowoc the second annual MEUW Lineman’s Rodeo was held on Saturday, September 8. Once again, the event was a success.

Hats off to the Rodeo Committee for organizing such a successful event! Thank you to all of the judges, volunteers and sponsors who volunteered to help with the event. And thanks to the city of Oconomowoc and Oconomowoc Utilities for hosting the event.
Seven teams representing nine MEUW communities competed for the title of “Grand Champion” Line Crew. They included: Cedarburg, Hartford, Kaukauna, Reedsburg/Oconomowoc (combined team), Shawano/Gresham (combined team); Stoughton and Sturgeon Bay. The crews competed in five events to accumulate a total score. Cedarburg’s crew of Bill Krueger, Mark Throndson and Jake Wilhelme became the 2007 MEUW Lineman’s Rodeo Grand Champions.

More photos and results from this year’s Rodeo are available on www.meuw.org. Click the link near the bottom of the homepage for MEUW 2007 Lineman’s Rodeo Photos and Results. Rodeo team members who want more detailed results from the Rodeo can call or e-mail Shari Baumann (sbaumann@meuw.org) at the MEUW office (608-837-2263).

And mark your calendars for the 2008 MEUW Lineman’s Rodeo, September 5-6, 2008, in Stoughton!

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Thanks to Our Sponsors!

MEUW and the Rodeo Committee would like to thank the following sponsors for helping make the 2nd Annual MEUW Lineman’s Rodeo a great success. We look forward to working with you next year!

Ace Precision Machining
Altec Industries Inc.
American Transmission Co.
Border States Electric
Burndy Electrical
Cooper Power Systems
Crescent Electric Supply
DUECO
Electrotech
General Cable
George Weston Bakery
Hartford Utilities
IBEW Local 2150
Icon Development Corp.
Kaukauna Utilities
Krause Power Engineering
Laser Technology, Inc.
Longmeadow Development
Lutheran Homes of Ocono.
Menasha Utilities
MEUW
MSA Professional Services
Muscoda Utilities
NESCO Sales & Rentals
New Holstein Utilities
Oconomowoc Utilities
Pabst Farms Development Inc.
Primus Marketing
RESCO
Ruekert-Mielke
Speed Systems Inc.
St. Jerome Congregation
Trench-It Inc.
Utility Sales & Service Inc.
WI Utility Suppliers Assn.
WESCO
Wisconsin Public Power Inc.

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PSC's 100 Years of Sound Utility Regulation
by Branko Terzic and George Edgar

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. In 1907, Wisconsin was a national pioneer in the successful establishment of a system of state regulation that enabled the initial construction of our “public service” infrastructure. The principles used in setting up regulation in Wisconsin were part a movement called The Wisconsin Idea, which included the new concept of “scientific regulation.”

A hundred years ago, the PSC applied these ideas to the newly evolving and expanding “public service companies” providing electric, gas, water and telephone services. At that time, Wisconsin served as a national model, and under PSC regulation, Wisconsin's utilities have provided high-quality service at very favorable rates for a century.

The key to the PSC’s success was a tradition of progressive regulation recognizing both the rights of the consumer and the role of the investor. Wisconsin’s regulatory pioneers, such as Gov. Robert M. La Follette, understood that regulation required a balance between the needs of the consumer (reliable service at reasonable prices) and the investors’ requirements for an opportunity to earn a fair return (on invested capital).

Writing about the factors that led to the first Public Utility Act of 1907, state librarian Charles McCarthy stated, “It is the duty of the state to regulate...so that the agent should be required to furnish adequate service, at reasonable rates without discrimination.” These words were to be adopted nationally as the fundamental slogan of utility regulation. They were echoed in the later legislation of many states and federal law concerning public utility services.

The success of The Wisconsin Idea, as applied to public utilities, in balancing the needs of consumers and investors was recognized early. La Follette wrote in his 1928 autobiography, “Both the people of Wisconsin and the investors in public utilities have been so greatly benefited. ...Simply because the regulation has been so scientific.”

Once the PSC was established, with the appointment of trained experts, full access to the books and records of the utilities and under a continuing appropriation, the regulator was given full authority to “determine in a scientific way whether certain issues are or are not reasonable, and is given full power of supervision.” La Follette wrote later, “The honest investor, or business man, or farmer, or laborer, who simply wants equal opportunity with others and security for what he honestly earns is protected and encouraged by the laws.”

Over the past 100 years, the PSC and Wisconsin’s utilities and their customers have successfully navigated the Great Depression, two world wars, double-digit inflation and two “oil shocks.” This has been achieved by consistently recognizing the fundamental connections between adequate, reliable, reasonable-cost energy and a desirable level of economic vitality, quality of life and environmental quality in Wisconsin.

Today, the PSC finds itself at the center of the two intertwined issues of energy security and climate change. How will the PSC and Wisconsin fare in the future? Quite well, we believe.

The PSC has ensured that adequate utility infrastructure was built and service provided at reasonable cost while seeking to mitigate potential adverse economic, social and environmental impacts from ensuring adequate energy supply to meet the needs of Wisconsin residents and businesses.

Continuation of the implementation of The Wisconsin Idea by the PSC will ensure that Wisconsin’s future energy needs will be met in a timely manner with appropriate technologies and at reasonable prices.

Branko Terzic was commissioner of the PSC from 1981-'85; George Edgar was commissioner from 1986-'89.

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November 1 in Stevens Point
MEUW to Offer SPCC Seminar

On December 26, 2006, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a long awaited revised set of SPCC (“Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure”) rules (71 Fed. Reg. 77266). EPA has also proposed to again extend the dates by which owners and operators must prepare or amend SPCC plans in order to conform with the 2002 revised SPCC rule (71 Fed. Reg. 77357, Dec. 25, 2006). In this proposed rule, EPA proposes to extend the deadline for both preparation or amendment and implementation of the plan from the prior extension of October 31, 2007, until July 1, 2009. EPA also announced that it expects to propose further revisions to the SPCC rules in 2007.

As electric utilities with oil filled equipment, MEUW Members are subject to the applicability of those new SPCC rules. To assist MEUW Members understand the new SPCC rules, how they differ from the old rules and the application of these new rules to their utility assets, MEUW will provide a one-day MEUW SPCC Seminar on November 1, 2007, at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Convention Center in Stevens Point (1001 Amber Avenue, 715/344-0200).

Registration materials were sent to your utility in September. If you need another copy, visit www.meuw.org/events.htm or contact MEUW Receptionist Shari Baumann (608/837-2263 or sbaumann@meuw.org).

We hope to see someone from your utility at the MEUW SPCC Seminar on November 1, 2007.

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