The PATH companies have submitted their Projected Transmission Revenue Requirement for 2011. They are projecting a 2011 revenue requirement of $36,895,492 for recovery of dollar for dollar costs such as O & M and income taxes. They also recover a return. The big spending, however, ends up in the rate base. The amount of the yearly revenue requirement will be collected beginning January 1, 2011 from the 51 million rate payers in the PJM region. That means you! PJM pays the PTRR to PATH and then bills this amount to your electric service provider, who passes the cost on to you in your monthly bill.
The formula rate set by FERC is administered by PJM through the Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT) Attachment H-19A & B. PATH is required to submit a complicated-looking set of documents twice a year to first collect their projected revenue requirement, and then to report actual spending when the year ends. At that time, the actual is compared to the projected amount which has been collected throughout the year and an over recovery is refunded, or an under recovery is added to the next year's recovery (process known as "true up").
Now, herein lies the problem. Nobody pays any attention to how much they spend or whether or not it should be an allowable expense! That is the job of "interested parties" like you (and your state PSC, who doesn't pay attention either). This "business as usual" scenario has been going on forever and is costing you money. Want to do something about it? Here's how: Wednesday, October 6 at 10:00 a.m., an "Open Meeting" on PATH's 2011 PTRR will be held at Pillsbury Shaw Winthrop Pittman, 2300 N Street, Washington DC. If you cannot attend in person, you may attend via conference call. This is your opportunity to have PATH's proposed spending explained to you by Allegheny Energy's Assistant General Counsel, and your opportunity to ask questions. We are urging all citizens to get involved in how your money is being spent! To attend the meeting either in person or by phone, here's what you need to do: RSVP to [email protected] by September 30 with your name, address, name of person or entity you are representing, and whether you will attend in person or via phone. You may also RSVP via phone at 724-838-6894.
Here's just a sample of what may be discussed at one of these meetings: "Safety, Education, Siting and Outreach Advertising". This expense ends up in the O & M total. This is the cost of all PATH's propaganda advertising that you've seen and continue to see. Ever wonder how much that costs and who's paying for it? In 2009, PATH recovered $2.1 million for advertising costs. In 2010, they are collecting $1.78 million. In 2011, they project only $400,000 in advertising costs. But, what happens if they spend more? No biggie -- they just collect it from you the next year if the true-up reveals they didn't collect enough. Interested enough to send in your RSVP yet? I guarantee you the questions for Randy Palmer are going to get a lot harder this time.
The formula rate set by FERC is administered by PJM through the Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT) Attachment H-19A & B. PATH is required to submit a complicated-looking set of documents twice a year to first collect their projected revenue requirement, and then to report actual spending when the year ends. At that time, the actual is compared to the projected amount which has been collected throughout the year and an over recovery is refunded, or an under recovery is added to the next year's recovery (process known as "true up").
Now, herein lies the problem. Nobody pays any attention to how much they spend or whether or not it should be an allowable expense! That is the job of "interested parties" like you (and your state PSC, who doesn't pay attention either). This "business as usual" scenario has been going on forever and is costing you money. Want to do something about it? Here's how: Wednesday, October 6 at 10:00 a.m., an "Open Meeting" on PATH's 2011 PTRR will be held at Pillsbury Shaw Winthrop Pittman, 2300 N Street, Washington DC. If you cannot attend in person, you may attend via conference call. This is your opportunity to have PATH's proposed spending explained to you by Allegheny Energy's Assistant General Counsel, and your opportunity to ask questions. We are urging all citizens to get involved in how your money is being spent! To attend the meeting either in person or by phone, here's what you need to do: RSVP to [email protected] by September 30 with your name, address, name of person or entity you are representing, and whether you will attend in person or via phone. You may also RSVP via phone at 724-838-6894.
Here's just a sample of what may be discussed at one of these meetings: "Safety, Education, Siting and Outreach Advertising". This expense ends up in the O & M total. This is the cost of all PATH's propaganda advertising that you've seen and continue to see. Ever wonder how much that costs and who's paying for it? In 2009, PATH recovered $2.1 million for advertising costs. In 2010, they are collecting $1.78 million. In 2011, they project only $400,000 in advertising costs. But, what happens if they spend more? No biggie -- they just collect it from you the next year if the true-up reveals they didn't collect enough. Interested enough to send in your RSVP yet? I guarantee you the questions for Randy Palmer are going to get a lot harder this time.
If you're one of our readers from outside the PJM region, or an opponent of another transmission project, you can do the same thing on your own project of concern. I won't say it's easy to figure this stuff out, but anyone can do it. You don't need to be an accountant, and while a background in corporate accounting may help, it is not a pre-requisite. Contact [email protected] and I'll get you headed in the right direction.
And speaking of meetings, check out the new list of meetings announced on our Events page. There's new content sprinkled around the website, so if you're a straight-up blog reader, we welcome you to look around again for new stuff.
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