• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission oversees utility companies.electricity image by toki from Fotolia.com
  
  The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) oversees the sale and distribution of electricity and natural gas (Reference 1). According to FERC's website, the Commission draws its legal authority from the Federal Power Act. Congress does not directly oversee FERC. These federal laws govern the entire country, but individual states may have their own supplemental laws. There are many federal guidelines for utility companies. Only a few of the laws most important to individual customers are included here.
  
  

Dishonesty

• Federal regulations prohibit both electric and natural gas companies from engaging in any kind of fraud or dishonesty to their customers. The Code of Federal Regulations also states that gas and electric companies may not omit information that would make the information they present misleading (References 2). These honesty requirements not only give customers legal recourse if they suspect their utility providers of fraud or dishonesty, but also allow the government to "administer justice" if a company is found to have lied.
  
  

Suspension of Rate Schedules

• The federal government has the power to stop utility companies from changing nearly any of the requirements they place on their customers, including rates, due dates and minimum payments (References 2 section 2.4). The government would temporarily stop a company from changing one of these requirements if the change could be deemed unfair or unreasonable. For example, if a company wished to move the due date for payment to a day too close to a previous payment deadline, the government may force the company to wait and give notice of the change.
  
  

Rate Increase Limitations

• All rate increases that a utility company plans to make must be approved by the federal government. If the government approves the increase, it avoids sending a steep increase to customers by setting down a schedule describing how quickly the rate can escalate (See References 2 section 2.18). The Code of Federal Regulations states that the government will not intervene in rate increases if the utility company is raising rates out of necessity. These necessities include costs for opening "new facilities" and remaining competitive with other utility companies.
  
  

Emissions Requirements

• The government limits the amount of harmful substances that utility companies may emit into the environment (See reference 2 section 2.25). Each company is given an emission limit based on the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. If the company emits more pollution that the government allows, it must purchase some of the allowance from another company which did not go over its limits. Since companies may sell whatever portions of their allowances they do not use, they are encouraged to be as environmentally responsible as possible.