(10) COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Regulatory and Other Matters Rate Proceedings In its recent electric service distribution base rate case, ACE proposed the adoption of bill stabilization adjustment mechanism (BSA) for retail customers in New Jersey. The BSA proposal remains pending. Under the BSA, customer delivery rates are subject to adjustment (through a credit or surcharge mechanism), depending on whether actual distribution revenue per customer exceeds or falls short of the revenue-per-customer amount approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The BSA increases rates if actual distribution revenues fall below the approved level and decreases rates if actual distribution revenues are above the approved level. The result is that, over time, ACE collects its authorized revenues for distribution deliveries. As a consequence, a BSA  decouples  distribution revenue from unit sales consumption and ties the growth in distribution revenues to the growth in the number of customers. Some advantages of the BSA are that it (i) eliminates revenue fluctuations due to weather and changes in customer usage patterns and, therefore, provides for more predictable distribution revenues that are better aligned with costs, (ii) provides for more reliable fixed-cost recovery, (iii) tends to stabilize customers  delivery bills, and (iv) removes any disincentives for ACE to promote energy efficiency programs for their customers, because it breaks the link between overall sales volumes and distribution revenues. Environmental Litigation ACE is subject to regulation by various federal, regional, state, and local authorities with respect to the environmental effects of its operations, including air and water quality control, solid and hazardous waste disposal, and limitations on land use. In addition, federal and state statutes authorize governmental agencies to compel responsible parties to clean up certain abandoned or unremediated hazardous waste sites. ACE may incur costs to clean up currently or formerly owned faciliti