Mo. bill would assert power for utility regulators

By DAVID A. LIEB

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.

Missouri lawmakers are moving quickly to reassert the right of state utility regulators to get involved in federal cases after a judge recently barred regulators from advocating on behalf of natural gas customers.

A state court ruled last month that the Missouri Public Service Commission lacks the legal authority to intervene in cases pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission -- though the PSC has done so for decades.

The decision by Franklin County Circuit Judge Gael Wood, who was acting as a special judge in Cole County, specifically ordered the PSC to halt its involvement in federal cases related to MoGas Pipeline LLC, a St. Peters-based natural gas distributor.

The PSC has turned to the Legislature to make an end run around the courts.

A bill granting the PSC such power passed the Senate 31-1 on Thursday and headed to the House. It would take effect immediately upon the governor's signature, essentially overturning the court ruling and allowing the PSC to remain involved in MoGas Pipeline cases.

MoGas Pipeline connects into an interstate pipeline in Pike County and distributes gas in a swath running from the St. Louis area toward Fort Leonard Wood in south-central Missouri. Its customers include Laclede Gas Co., AmerenUE, several municipalities and some industrial natural gas users, company president David Ries said.

Ries said Friday that the PSC has opposed virtually everything he has sought to do, including the merger that formed his current company, a service expansion and -- most recently -- a requested rate increase pending before federal regulators. So Ries went to court to assert that the PSC was overstepping its authority.

"The Public Service Commission's primary role is to balance the interests between the provider and the consumer," he said. But in federal cases, "they become entirely a consumer advocate. So they now oppose the service providers, which is not what their role is supposed to be."

PSC Chairman Robert Clayton said the five-member panel acts as an impartial regulator in state utility cases. A separate state office is responsible for representing the interests of residential consumers in cases that the PSC hears. But Clayton said the PSC also has a responsibility to act in the public's interest in other utility matters.

"I understand he doesn't like having opposition to what he wants, but we are the only people who will stand up and advocate on the public's behalf on issues that are specific to Missouri customers" in cases handled by federal regulators, Clayton said.

The PSC claims that its intervention in federal energy cases last fiscal year helped save $50 million for Missouri consumers. It says that role could become even more important in the future, with billions of dollars worth of major projects planned to modernize the nation's electric grid.