American States Water Company Announces Court Decision on Power Contract.SAN DIMAS, Calif. -- American States Water Company (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :AWR AWR Automatic Workload Repository (Oracle database) AWR Applied Wave Research (El Segundo, CA) AWR Adventist World Radio AWR Advanced Warranty Replacement AWR American Warmblood Registry ) announced today that on December 19, 2006, the United States Court of Appeals The United States courts of appeals (or circuit courts) are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system. A court of appeals decides appeals from the district courts within its federal judicial circuit, and in some instances from other for the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion granting a petition filed by AWR subsidiary Golden State Water Company ("GSWC"), formerly Southern California Water Company, for a review of the orders of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the United States federal agency with jurisdiction over electricity sales, wholesale electric rates, hydroelectric licensing, natural gas pricing, and oil pipeline rates. ("FERC FERC Federal Energy Regulatory Commission FERC FEMA Emergency Response Capability ") which denied the Company's complaint to seek a reduction in the rate under the Company's long-term block energy purchase contract with Mirant Americas Energy Marketing, L.P. ("Mirant Marketing"). The Court's opinion remands the case back to the FERC, finding that the FERC applied the wrong legal standard and ignored relevant factors in denying the Company's complaint. The FERC can request a rehearing rehearing n. conducting a hearing again based on the motion of one of the parties to a lawsuit, petition or criminal prosecution, usually by the court or agency which originally heard the matter. by the Court of Appeals. Most of the electric energy sold by GSWC to the 23,000 customers in its Bear Valley Electric customer service area is purchased from others. In March 2001, GSWC entered into a five-year nine-month, block forward purchase contract with Mirant Marketing to supply its Bear Valley Electric customer service area with 15 MWs of electric energy at a price of $95 per MWh beginning April 1, 2001 through December 31, 2006. GSWC subsequently filed a complaint with the FERC seeking to reduce the rates in the Mirant Marketing contract to a just and reasonable price. The FERC denied this complaint and GSWC appealed this denial. The Company is unable to predict the timing of final resolution of the issue and the potential financial impact. American States Water Company is the parent of Golden State Water Company, American States Utility Services, Inc. and Chaparral City Water Company. Through its subsidiaries, AWR provides water service to 1 out of 30 Californians located within 75 communities throughout 10 counties in Northern, Coastal and Southern California (approximately 254,000 customers) and to approximately 13,000 customers in the city of Fountain Hills, Arizona Fountain Hills is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA. It incorporated as an independent municipality in 1989, after spending most of its history as a master planned development on the far northern end of (now neighboring) Scottsdale. and a small portion of Scottsdale, Arizona. The Company also distributes electricity to approximately 23,000 customers in the Big Bear recreational area of California. Through its non-regulated subsidiary, American States Utility Services, the Company contracts with municipalities, the U.S. government and private entities to provide various services, including billing and meter reading, water marketing and operation and maintenance of water and wastewater systems. |
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