Nantahala Power & Light Co. et al. v. Thornburg, Attorney General of North Carolina, et al. (476 U.S. 953)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 16, 1986 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 476 U.S. 953 · 106 S. Ct. 2349
- Decided
- June 16, 1986
- Term
- October Term 1985
- Vote
- 7–0
- Majority author
- Justice O'Connor
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. The Nantahala Power & Light Company (Nantahala) and Tapoco, Inc. (Tapoco), are both wholly owned subsidiaries of the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa). Tapoco and Nantahala each own hydroelectric power plants on the Little Tennessee River. Almost all of the power that they produce goes to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In exchange for allowing TVA to pour into its grid the variable-quantity of power produced by Tapoco’s and Nantahala’s facilities, Tapoco and Nantahala jointly receive a fixed supply of low-cost “entitlement power” from TVA. In addition, Nantahala buys a variable amount of high-cost “purchased power” from the TVA grid. Tapoco sells all its power to Alcoa; Nantahala serves public customers. For the purposes of calculating the rate to be charged Nantahala’s retail customers, all of whom are in North Carolina, the Utilities Commission of North Carolina (NCUC) chose an allocation of entitlement and purchased power between Tapoco and Nantahala that differs from the allocation of entitlement power between Tapoco and Nantahala adopted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in a wholesale ratemaking proceeding. The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld NCUC’s allocation. We noted probable jurisdiction to decide whether NCUC’s allocation may stand in light of FERC’s ruling. 474 U. S. 1018 (1985). We…
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