FERC Rulemakings
Better Markets Through Demand Response, Forward Contracting and Accountability
FERC issued a final rule October 17 to strengthen competition in organized wholesale electric markets. The rule (generally consistent with the proposed rule FERC issued last February) seeks to improve wholesale markets by establishing a more forceful role for demand response and long-term contracts in organized markets, strengthening market monitoring, and improving the responsiveness of [...]
FERC Augments, Revamps Enforcement Guidance and Procedures
FERC has taken several steps to clarify its policies for conducting enforcement investigations, carrying out its authority to impose penalties on violators, and broadening the scope of issues to be covered by its ex parte rules and no-action letter procedures. The additional guidance is welcome in light of the seemingly haphazard approach to enforcement that [...]
FERC Mostly Affirms Market-Based Rate Program
On April 21, FERC issued an order generally affirming its market-based rate program, promulgated last June in Order No. 697. FERC left many of its prior determinations in place, including much of the analysis sellers must provide in order to receive or maintain authority to sell electric energy, capacity, and/or ancillary services at market-based rates. [...]
Standards of Conduct Proposal Retreats from Structural to Functional Separation
A recent FERC Standard of Conduct rulemaking proposal retreats from its Order 2004 expansion of the standards of conduct, expressly finding that expansion too complex and unworkable. FERC proposes a return to its 1990s vintage functional separation model of Order 497 (natural gas) and Order 889 (electric power), eliminating both Order 2004′s concept of “Energy [...]
FERC Proposes Sundry Changes to Organized Power Market Rules
In a new rulemaking, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has resisted pressure from various groups to examine the foundations of organized wholesale power markets administered by RTOs and ISOs, and instead proposes various tweaks to the rules in these markets. FERC rejected the calls by the American Public Power Association and others who have [...]