RE: Utilities and antitrust

["Brian S. Blackman" <bblackman@i-enternet.com>]

Otter Tail v. U.S. 411 U.S. 910, 93 S. Ct. 1523 is the seminal utility antitrust case.

 

Consider also:  City of Mishawaka 616 F.2d 976; Town of Concord 915 F.2d 17; Praxair, Inc. 64 F.3d 609.

 

Some more recent cases include:  City of Pittsburgh v. West Penn Power Co., I'm not sure if it is published yet, try the Third Circuit opinions; Schuylkill Energy Resources, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., 113 F.3d 405 (appealed to the Supreme Court, but I don't think it was heard.); Crossroads Cogeneration Corporation v. Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc., 969 F.Supp. 907; and Columbia Steel Casting Co., Inc. v. Portland General Electric Co., 111 F.3d 1427.  There are probably more that I don't know about.  If your concern is with a tariff, you might review the case law on the State Action doctrine.

 

    I suspect this area of antitrust will continue heating up now that retail competition is being adopted.  It is a very complex product to attempt to analyze.  The geographic market can change from minute to minute depending on the transmission system.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Brian Blackman
Tiemann Law Offices, P.C.
P.O. Box 1190
Pflugerville, Texas 78691
Phone (512) 252-3179
Fax (512) 251-8540
bblackman@i-enternet.com
 

 -----Original Message-----
From: antitrust@essential.org [mailto:antitrust@essential.org]On Behalf Of Francisco Ignacio Aguero Vargas
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 1999 2:02 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list ANTITRUST
Subject: Utilities and antitrust

Hi there, antitrust list.

 

I'm new in this list, though I have some knowledge on this topic.

 

I'd like to know if there are any cases regarding antitrust and public utilities, especially during tarification process.

 

Thank you,

 

Francisco Agüero V.