Opinion

AEP Texas Central Co. v. Public Utility Commission of Texas

  • 258 S.W.3d 272
  • 2008 WL 2544895
Court
Texas Court of Appeals, 3rd District (Austin)
Filed
Jun 27, 2008
Status
Published
On the bench
Patterson, Puryear, Pemberton
Cited by
6 cases
Authority
More cited than 57.1%

remanding for reconsideration in light of CenterPoint Energy Houston Elec., LLC v. Gulf Coast Coalition of Cities, 252 S.W.3d 1 (Tex.App.-Austin 2008), rev’d in part sub nom. State v. Pub. Util. Comm’n, 344 S.W.3d 349 (Tex.2011), and in light of Cities of Corpus Christi v. Pub. Util. Comm'n, 188 S.W.3d 681 (Tex.App.-Austin 2005, pet. denied)

How later courts described this case

  • remanding for reconsideration in light of CenterPoint Energy Houston Elec., LLC v. Gulf Coast Coalition of Cities, 252 S.W.3d 1 (Tex.App.-Austin 2008), rev’d in part sub nom. State v. Pub. Util. Comm’n, 344 S.W.3d 349 (Tex.2011), and in light of Cities of Corpus Christi v. Pub. Util. Comm'n, 188 S.W.3d 681 (Tex.App.-Austin 2005, pet. denied)

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

We withdraw the opinion, concurring and dissenting opinion, concurring opinion and judgment issued May 23, 2008, and substitute the following in their place. We overrule the appellants’ motion for rehearing. 1

This appeal arises from the final order of the Public Utility Commission in the true-up proceeding to finalize “stranded costs” and other true-up balances for the AEP Texas Central Company and CPL Retail Energy, L.P. (collectively “TCC”) as a result of the legislative mandate to bring *276 competition to the retail energy market in Texas. The district court affirmed the Commission’s final order in most respects, but reversed on three issues. This Court affirms the district court’s judgment in part, reverses in part, and remands this cause to the Commission for further proceedings consistent with the Court’s opinions.

Justice Patterson filed a concurring and dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Pur-year and Pemberton in part. Justice Pem-berton filed a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Puryear.

For the reasons expressed in Justice Patterson’s opinion, the Court affirms the district court’s judgment, except that the Court reverses the district court’s judgment that: (1) the Commission erred in excluding the testimony and expert report of Ross A. Sollosy; (2) the Commission erred in using the interest rate specified in PUC Rule 25.263(Z )(3); (3) the Commission properly refused to consider the potential normalization violation resulting from its treatment of the amounts held in TCC’s federal tax accounts for Accumulated Deferred Investment Tax Credits (AD-ITC) and Excess Deferred Federal Income Tax (EDFIT); and (4) the Commission properly accounted for the excess mitigation credits and interest paid by TCC.

For the reasons expressed in Justice Pemberton’s opinion, the Court affirms the district court’s judgment that section 39.252(d) of the Public Utility Regulatory Act precludes the Commission from adjusting the net book value of TCC’s generation assets where the Commission has found that TCC has disposed of those assets in a bona fide third-party transaction under a competitive offering as required in section 39.262(h). Accordingly, the Court does not reach the question of whether the Commission’s adjustments to the net book values of TCC’s share in the South Texas Nuclear Project and the Coleto Creek Coal Plant for “commercial unreasonableness” were supported by substantial evidence. The Court also affirms the district court’s judgment affirming the Commission’s refusal to make book-value adjustments based on the failure to employ bridge power sales agreements.

Justice Patterson dissents from the majority’s conclusion that section 39.252(d) precludes the Commission’s adjustments to the net book value of TCC’s generation assets for “commercial unreasonableness” related to TCC’s sales of the South Texas Nuclear Project and the Coleto Creek Coal Plant to the extent TCC’s commercially unreasonable behavior benefitted the utility and was not captured in the market valuation of TCC’s generation assets.

Concurring and Dissenting Opinion by Justice PATTERSON, joined in part by Justices PURYEAR and PEMBERTON.

Concurring Opinion by Justice PEMBERTON, joined by Justice PURYEAR.

. Several appellants, referred to collectively as the "Joint Intervenors,” including the cities served by AEP Texas Central Company, the State of Texas, Texas Industrial Energy Consumers, and Alliance Valley Healthcare, filed a joint motion for rehearing, which the Court overrules today.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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