New York (Platts)--5Jul2007

Delmarva Power thinks Delaware's new renewable portfolio standard is
unfair because it applies only to the investor-owned utility--the only IOU in
the state--but not to municipal utilities or cooperatives, a company
spokeswoman said Thursday.

     An RPS, which the Delaware Legislature passed in 2005 and that took
effect earlier this year, required utilities to have 10% of renewables in
their portfolios by 2019. On July 1, the Legislature passed S.B. 19, which
raised the goal to 20%, with 2% from solar energy.

     Governor Ruth Ann Minner is "inclined to sign the legislation," said
her spokeswoman, Catherine Bakerian. Once the state Senate delivers it, the
governor will have 10 days to sign. 

     Delmarva Power spokeswoman Mary Street said the utility is concerned it
must comply with the higher standard while munis and the Delaware Electric
Cooperative still will be subject to the 2005 standard. This is unfair, she
said, because Delmarva only supplies 28% of the standard-offer load in the
state. Most of its industrial customers have switched to retail marketers.

     "It would disadvantage our customers if we have to meet a higher
standard," she said. "If this is going to be the industry standard, it
should be standard for everyone." 

     Delmarva plans to "revisit" the issue next year with the Legislature,
which ended its 2007 session at the end of June. Lawmakers actually amended
the bill at the last moment to give Delmarva some "breathing room"--while the
original bill called for doubling all requirements from 2007 onward, the
amendment keeps in place the previous RPS mandates for 2007 through 2009. Thus
the requirement will be kept at 1% for 2007, 1.5% for 2008 and 2% in 2009
instead of doubling to 2%, 3% and 4%.

     Street said Delmarva already is ahead of the original RPS, since it has
1.8% renewables in its mix, with most of its renewable supplies coming from
wind, biomass and solar.