Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co. v. EPEC Independent Power I Co.

22 Mass. L. Rptr. 269
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedFebruary 20, 2007
DocketNo. 052710BLS1
StatusPublished

This text of 22 Mass. L. Rptr. 269 (Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co. v. EPEC Independent Power I Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co. v. EPEC Independent Power I Co., 22 Mass. L. Rptr. 269 (Mass. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

van Gestel, Allan, J.

This matter is before the Court after a juiy-waived trial for findings of fact, rulings of law and an order for judgment.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (“MMWEC”), created by St. 1975, c. 775, is a public corporation and a political subdivision of the Commonwealth. MMWEC’s purpose is to plan, to acquire, and to establish independent electric power supply on behalf of municipal light departments and other electric utilities in Massachusetts. Acting as a wholesaler of electric energy, MMWEC either purchases energy in bulk from large generating facilities or participates in the ownership of all or part of electric generating facilities. MMWEC then sells the electricity to its members, to other facilities, and to municipal electric light departments within or without the Commonwealth.

MMWEC has its principal place of business in Ludlow, Massachusetts.

MASSPOWER is a joint venture organized as a Massachusetts general partnership with a place of business in Boston, Massachusetts and a gas-fired electricity generating unit in Springfield, Massachusetts. The individually named defendants are an aggregation of entities, some of whom formerly were involved in the operation and management of MASSPOWER, and some of whom currently are involved in the operation and management of MASSPOWER. Following a sale on December 28, 2005, the current owners of MASSPOWER became Silver Ship MP Partners, LLC and Silver Ship MP Partners II, LLC, affiliates of Flagship Energy and the investment firm Silverpoint Capital. For purposes of these findings and rulings, nothing turns on the identity of which entities were operating MASSPOWER at any of the material times involved in this litigation. The Court, therefore, simply will refer here throughout to MASSPOWER.

At the heart of this case is an agreement between MMWEC and MASSPOWER first executed on April 10, 1990, and later amended in parts not material to this case on April 30, 1991. The parties refer to this agreement as the “Power Purchase Agreement” or the “PPA.” At the time the PPA was executed, MASSPOWER'was planning to construct, own and operate a cogeneration facility (the “Facility”) having a designed net electrical capacity of approximately 239,000 kilowatts.

The Facility was to be, and did become, located at the site of the Monsanto Chemical Company in Springfield, Massachusetts. MASSPOWER’s cogeneration plant was intended to, and did, generate steam for sale to Monsanto and electricity to be sold through the New England Power Pool (“NEPOOL”).

[270]*270MMWEC agreed to purchase, through NEPOOL and pursuant to the NEPOOL Agreement, what ultimately was to become 7.86% of the net electrical capability and associated energy of the proposed Facility for a term of 20 years commencing on August 1, 1993. The PPA, absent early termination, is not due to expire until 2013.

Another component of the PPA is the “capacity charge,” designed to recover the capital costs of the MASSPOWER unit. A large portion of the capacity charge is fixed, so long as the unit is available to run, but regardless of whether it runs or not. The fuel costs are priced at costs which vary consistent with the energy generated at the Facility.

Pursuant to separate agreements that essentially pass through MASSPOWER’s charges under the PPA, along with MMWEC’s administrative expenses, MMWEC resells the electric capacity and energy purchased from MASSPOWER to municipal light departments serving the towns of Littleton, Wakefield, Groton, Ipswich and Ashbumham, and the City of Holyoke (the “municipals”).

MASSPOWER also signed long-term power purchase agreements with Boston Edison Company (“BECo”), Commonwealth Electric Company (“Com/Elec”), and Western Massachusetts Electric Company (“WMECo”) for all but 5% of the remaining output of the plant. BECo and Com/Elec later became part of NSTAR.

Under their agreements, these other utilities did not pay simply a pro rata share of MASSPOWER’s actual fuel costs, but rather paid for generated electricity based on pricing adjusted pursuant to formulae and indices as well as actual fuel costs.

The Second Amended Complaint seeks declaratory relief regarding MASSPOWER’s obligations under the PPA, money damages for alleged breaches thereof, specific performance of certain aspects thereof, and, of course, relief for alleged violations of G.L.c. 93A.

Under the PPA MASSPOWER was obliged to employ “prudent utility practice” in the operation of the Facility. The PPA defined “prudent utility practice” as “any of the practices, methods and acts engaged in or approved by a significant portion of the electric utility industry in New England which, in the exercise of reasonable judgment in light of the facts known at the time a decision was made, could have been expected to accomplish the desired result in a manner consistent with regulations, reliability, safety, environmental protection, economy and expedition.”

A key requirement of the PPA, in Section 4.3, relates to dispatch of the Facility by the New England Power Exchange (“NEPEX”). This Section reads in full:

The Parties agree that the Facility will be available for dispatch by NEPEX in accordance with the NEPOOL Agreement and that the Facility will be deemed a dispatchable unit for purposes of economic dispatch by NEPEX, subject to provisions set forth in Appendix C. In the event that the Facility is dispatched at a capacity factor of less than sixty percent over a two-year period, [MASSPOWER] agrees to cooperate with [MMWEC] and the other Purchasers if they decide to seek to have the Facility declared “must-run” by NEPOOL.

Section 4.4 of the PPA requires MASSPOWER to “use due diligence to make available to [MMWEC], regularly and without interruption, [MMWEC’s] Entitlement.” “Entitlement” is defined in the PPA to “mean the percentage of the Net Capability and Corresponding Energy of the Facility that [MASSPOWER] has agreed to sell and a Purchaser has agreed to buy.” Here, MMWEC’s Entitlement is 7.86% of MASSPOWER’s Net Capability and Corresponding Energy of the Facility.

“Net Capability” is defined in the PPA as “the maximum, dependable load-carrying capability of the Facility, exclusive of capacity required for Facility use.” It is expressed in kilowatts and is “determined from time to time by tests conducted in accordance with the NEPOOL Agreement including NEPOOL Criteria, Rules and Standards and Operating Procedures.” There are different ratings for summer and winter. For example, the Facility, through periodic engineering audits, established a net capability that approximates 231.5 megawatts in the summer and 270.0 megawatts in the winter.

The primary fuel used by the Facility to generate electricity is natural gas. At the time the PPA was signed, MASSPOWER had not concluded any final gas purchase or transportation agreements. Instead, it provided MMWEC with “precedent agreements,” describing, for regulatory purposes, the anticipated contracts. After the PPA was signed, but before construction of the Facility, MASSPOWER supplied later iterations of its contemplated fuel supply and transportation agreements.

Also at the time of executing the PPA, MMWEC was aware that the pricing provisions in MASSPOWER’s long-term gas contracts would change pursuant to periodic “reopener” clauses intended to keep gas prices low enough to permit frequent dispatch of the plant.

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119 N.E.2d 419 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1954)
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730 N.E.2d 869 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
22 Mass. L. Rptr. 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/massachusetts-municipal-wholesale-electric-co-v-epec-independent-power-i-masssuperct-2007.