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Practice/Industry Group Overview
Jones Day's Energy Delivery & Power team includes more than 20 lawyers whose focus is energy regulation, representing electric utilities, natural gas pipelines, and natural gas distribution companies as well as financial advisors to the energy delivery and power industry. Jones Day's regulatory lawyers provide day-to-day counseling on issues arising under the Federal Power Act, the Natural Gas Act, PUHCA 2005, state public utility laws, and other related laws and regulations.
The Firm's lawyers have guided gas company and electric utility clients through the corporate and services restructurings required by the FERC in a series of orders extending over nearly two decades. These included FERC Order Nos. 436 and 636 in the mid-1980s and early 1990s that required the unbundling of interstate natural gas pipeline services; Order Nos. 888, 889, 2000, and 2003, which required similar changes in the electric utility industry; and the FERC's recent Order No. 2004, which dictates the standards of conduct that both natural gas companies and electric utilities must follow. Similar initiatives have been debated at the state level, and our lawyers have been active in these forums throughout the country.
Jones Day's role as a lead advisor to regulated energy delivery and power companies is exemplified by our work for clients in relation to the FERC's new standards of conduct. These new standards required that electric utilities and natural gas pipelines thoroughly reassess their business organizations, and our clients looked to the Firm for sound advice in complying with the FERC's requirements. The Firm assisted our clients in seeking the appropriate amendments or waivers where that was the appropriate course. Where restructuring of a client's activities was the most judicious choice, our lawyers developed approaches that would meet the requirements in an efficient and economical way.
Our regulatory lawyers are experienced in rate proceedings, new service proposals, policy statements, and rulemakings before the FERC and state commissions. Similarly, Jones Day is active in certificate proceedings before the FERC and state commissions seeking new construction authority or a reorganization of a client's regulated businesses. As a growing number of states adopt renewable portfolio standards, our lawyers advise clients on these matters, including with respect to the regulatory approvals related to wind farms and other renewable energy projects.
In numerous complex matters involving large numbers of intervenors at both state and federal levels, our lawyers have achieved negotiated settlements that have attained clients' objectives in a cost-effective and timely manner. Where settlement is not possible, our lawyers are experienced in administrative and appellate litigation. Jones Day lawyers were responsible for the lead proceeding before the FERC in which the spin-down of pipeline gathering assets into a nonjurisdictional affiliate was approved. On appeal, our lawyers successfully defended the FERC's landmark determinations supporting the spin-down and gained reversal of certain conditions that threatened the efficacy of the restructuring.
Jones Day has also represented numerous energy clients in responding to audits and investigations that are now a routine aspect of federal regulation of the energy industry. The Firm has responded on behalf of our clients to the FERC and CFTC regarding claims of price gouging, market manipulation, and improper trading practices related to such events as the 2000 California energy crisis.
Jones Day's energy regulation lawyers are well known for work relating to utility mergers and acquisitions . The Firm counseled both merging companies and intervenors and litigated merger approval proceedings before the FERC and state commissions. Our lawyers have assisted clients in obtaining requisite approvals for a variety of industry-shaping deals, including the first three long-distance electric utility mergers, the first acquisition by a vertically integrated utility of a merchant plant operating in its control area, the first combination in recent times of a large purely electric utility with a large purely gas utility, and the first double cash election merger in the utility industry. Moreover, we have participated in cross-border transactions, including Powergen's acquisition of LG&E Energy and E.ON's subsequent acquisition of Powergen and LG&E Energy.
Building on our practice under the now repealed Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 ("PUHCA 1935"), our lawyers counsel clients on PUHCA 2005 matters involving recently adopted FERC financial information filing requirements, affiliate transactions, and cost allocations.
In jurisdictions where regulation or governmental oversight must be developed or refined, our lawyers can construct and negotiate approaches that meet governmental concerns, consistent with the needs of the project. We have provided legal support to governments (and their agencies), domestic and multilateral agencies, corporations, regulatory economists, and advisory consultants relating to the options, implementation, and consequences of constitutional and legislative reform in relation to restructuring, deregulation, and/or privatization in the energy sector.
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