Heavy winds lifted part of the roof off two Riverside apartment complex units. (Photo courtesy of Jared Brannon)
Heavy storms that rolled through East Alabama and Birmingham Thursday afternoon caused widespread damage, resulting in one fatality.
In Riverside, severe storms lifted off part of the roof on two Riverbend Apartments units.
ABC 33/40's Andrew Donley says apartment residents are unaware of any injuries.
A tree fell on an elderly Ensley man's home, his granddaughter tells ABC 33/40's Patrick Thomas.
As of 9 p.m., Alabama Power had reduced the number of power outages from 156,000 to 83,000 , the company confirmed via twitter. Alabama Power crews initially reported 200 downed power and 300 broken poles.
Alabama Power is urging those who spot downed lines to stay away from them. If you have a downed line in your area, please report it to Alabama Power at (800) 888-2726.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Birmingham extended a severe thunderstorm watch for Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Chambers, Chilton, Coosa, Elmore, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Montgomery, Pike, Russell, and Tallapoosa counties, to go along with the other Central Alabama counties of Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Etowah, Jefferson, Randolph, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Walker, Winston until 7 p.m. Thursday.
NWS Huntsville's severe thunderstorm watch for Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, and Morgan counties was also in effect until 7 p.m.
Check out the latest watches, warnings, and weather updates on the Weather Blog and keep track on storms in real time via the ABC 33/40 Live Radar.
ABC 33/40's Chief Meteorologist James Spann will be providing live updates on air and online until the severe weather threat subsides.
If you can safely take a picture of damage in your area, please share it with us via burst.com/abc3340 or by clicking on "See It, Send It" within the ABC 33/40.
Groups representing small electric utilities in Alabama and Mississippi have filed a formal complaint alleging that the Southern Company and Alabama Power are making too much profit for delivering power to rural areas of both states.
The smaller utilities argue that Southern Company's returns should be lowered and refunds issued to the approximately 570,000 customers they serve.
The Alabama Municipal Electric Authority along with Cooperative Energy filed the complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission against Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and parent group Southern Company.
The AMEA has 11 member groups, which are the municipal electric utilities in Alexander City, Daphne/Foley (Riviera Utilities), Dothan, Fairhope, LaFayette, Lanett, Luverne, Opelika, Piedmont, Sylacauga and Tuskegee.
The complaint argues that the company's 11.25 percent return on equity for transmitting electricity to the distribution companies is "unjust and unreasonable," although it was approved by the FERC in 2003.
Electric rates for individual customers of Alabama Power are set by the Alabama Public Service Commission, but wholesale power rates from large producers to smaller electricity providers are set by the FERC, which determines how much profit power providers are allowed to make on their investments.
The AMEA submitted testimony from Breandan T. Mac Mathuna, a financial and regulatory analyst for an energy policy firm in Atlanta, stating that an 8.65 percent return is more in line with current industry trends. In his testimony, Mac Mathuna detailed a "Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)" model study he performed backing the lower return rate.
The complainants estimate in their filing that the difference between 11.25 percent and 8.65 percent could save them a total of $266.5 million per year, or roughly $464 per customer of the complaining utilities.
Southern Company filed a formal answer to the complaint on behalf of the respondents, arguing that the analysis performed by Mac Mathuna was "flawed and deficient," contained errors, and that the existing agreement was within the normal and acceptable range of utility transmission agreements.
Southern also argued that the complainants had not met legal barriers required to prove that the returns have become unreasonable since they were previously approved by the Commission.
"The DCF study evidence relied upon by Complainants contains serious errors and omissions and fails to meet fundamental and long-standing ratemaking principles," Southern Company said in its response. "Among other problems, Complainants' witness, Mr. Mac Mathuna's, DCF study contains a flawed proxy group, calculates adjusted dividend yield incorrectly and uses stale and incorrect data.
"Together, these flaws and incorrect assumptions constitute a failure of proof."
Southern Company asked the Commission to dismiss the complaint.
According to the nonprofit Energy and Policy Institute, the AMEA's 11 member groups serve more than 146,000 customers in Alabama, while Cooperative Energy represents 11 rural electric utility companies in Mississippi with more than 427,000 customers. The largest swath of AMEA member group customers is along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, in Daphne, Foley, and Fairhope.
Through a spokesman, Southern Company declined to comment on the proceedings beyond the formal response filed with FERC.
AMEA President and CEO Fred Clark said it was against the group's policy to comment about specific actions involving regulatory agencies, but spoke generally about the group's operations.
"Everything AMEA does is trying to mitigate the cost to its consumers," Clark said. "We're searching for economical energy. We're searching to reduce our costs at every turn."
Clark said the AMEA was created by an act of the Alabama Legislature in 1981 to allow cities with their own electric systems to band together for negotiating and other purposes. He said that transmission costs have been increasing in recent years, and the group is trying to avoid increasing rates to its customers to cover those costs.
If FERC does find for the complainants, it could send shock waves throughout the utility landscape of the Southeast.
Southeastern utilities PowerSouth and Georgia Transmission filed motions to intervene in the case, as did the Mississippi Public Service Commission. Both utilities said they had a "direct and substantial interest" in the outcome of the proceedings, but did not express an opinion on the merits of the case.
The initial complaint by AMEA and Southern Company's full response are embedded below.
AMEA Complaint
Southern Company Response
Strong storms ripping through Alabama Thursday have caused at least one death, multiple injuries, damages and widespread power outages across the state. One woman from Huntsville was sent to the hospital after she was struck by lightning in Hampton Cove in Huntsville.
Another man was killed when a tree fell on his car in Lineville, police said.
Read more about the severe weather threat here.
