State-federal dispute over regionalization of electricity distribution may be headed for federal court

FERC's approval of allowing Dominion Power and American Electric Power subsidiaries to join in the regional power system, after the legislature passed a statute prohibiting participation in the regional group by Virginia's power producers, means it is more likely that the issue will end up in federal court, as reported here. A spokesman for AEP said "This is a complicated, complex issue that puts us in the middle of a jurisdictional dispute between the federal regulators and the state regulators."