NRRI presents:

Electricity Law: Current Topics 2010
April 22-23, 2010 • Washington, DC

An in-person seminar with
Scott Hempling, Esq.,
NRRI Executive Director

Register Now

Purpose

This intensive, 1.5 day (nine hours) seminar is designed for practitioners and decisionmakers seeking up-to-date mastery of the legal developments affecting the electric industry.

Our market structure and federal-state jurisdictional debates continue. Among them: Will we get wholesale competition right? An appellate court has upheld FERC’s authority to establish capacity adequacy standards --but how will we keep capacity costs reasonable? What do we do about the utilities’ graying workforce? Can we rely on FERC and NERC to ensure reliability?

Transmission remains central—as the conduit for renewables, as the backbone for regional planning, and, unfortunately, as a trigger for disputes over siting and cost allocation. Can we mesh state and federal authority smoothly, so that the public knows who has responsibility for transmission planning, financing, and operations?

Three Court of Appeals decisions and one Supreme Court decision in one year—that’s a lot of judicial intervention in our fast-changing industry. With what effects?

Electricity regulation implicates legal principles found in state regulatory statutes, federal statutes, constitutional law, contract law, property law, and negligence law. Effective decisionmaking requires mastery of these legal principles.


Who Should Attend

Attorneys, economists, accountants, and engineers; commissioners, legislators, and other governmental decisionmakers; managers of public and private entities; and others seeking an understanding of changes in federal electricity law. Course materials are accessible to beginners and relevant to advanced attendees.

Past seminars have drawn attendees from all 50 states, all sectors of the industry, and all professional disciplines. Many first-time attendees have returned for subsequent seminars.
 

Program Information

Part One – Transmission, Wholesale Markets, and Renewable Energy

I. FERC's "Back Stop" Siting Authority: Is Any Left? Piedmont Environmental Council, et al. v. FERC

A. State siting authority: The world before 2005
B. The 2005 amendments
C. Fourth Circuit: "Withhold" does not mean "deny"

II. FERC's "Postage Stamp" Pricing Meets Judge Posner—and Loses: Will We Ever Agree on Transmission Cost Allocation? Illinois Commerce Commission, et al. v. FERC

A. Background: Postage stamps, license plates, and backbones
B. Principles: Sunk costs, new costs, efficiency, benefits
C. FERC’s error: Allocating costs without explaining benefits
D. FERC’s next steps

III. FERC's Transmission Cost Adders: Is There a Limit? Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control v. FERC (2010)

IV. FERC's Regional Capacity Requirement Authority: Is There Any Limit? Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control v. FERC (2009)

A. Background: Capacity, efficiency, free-ridership, "installed capacity requirement", "generating facilities"
B. Federal Power Act: FERC has jurisdiction over "practices affecting rates"
C. Court: FERC can set capacity requirements as "practices affecting rates

V. Florida Outage Yields $25M Fine: FERC Enforces Reliability But Omits the Reasoning

A. FERC's reliability jurisdiction: FPA Section 215
B. FP&L's errors and the "settlement"
C. FERC's civil penalty authority
D. Contrast: Common-law insulation from liability
E. Concurrences: Where is the majority's explanation?

VI. "Feed-In Tariffs" for Renewable Power: State Efforts Face Federal Constraints

A. Tariff tutorial: Fourth step in 30 years of renewables boosting
B. Federal law constraints: FPA and PURPA
C. Solution: State level tariffs based on a PURPA mandate
D. Solution: State-level tariffs based on a state law mandate
E. Solution: Amendments to current federal statutes

Part Two – The "Public Interest" in Regulatory Law

I. The Supreme Court Revisits Mobile Sierra: Third Parties Face the Same "Public Interest" Hurdle Signatories Do

A. Federal Power Act philosophy: Sanctity of contracts
B. One statutory standard: "Just and reasonable"
C. The Court's presumption: Arms'-length bargaining = "just and reasonable"
D. Complainant's burden: "Public interest" (three times in 70 years)
E. Burden applies to third parties

II. The "Public Interest" Phrase in Utility Statutes: Are Commissioners' Powers Growing?

A. Regulation's traditional goalss
B. Expansion in goals causes expansion in roles
C. Challenges: indefiniteness, conflicting authorities, limited resources
D. Guidance for regulators and legislators

Part Three – Last But Not Least: Miscellaneous Developments

I. Workforce Retirements: How Can State Commissions Ensure Utility Performance?

A. Background on utility retirements
B. Regulatory authority to investigate utility staffing
C. How to structure a commission inquiry
D. Possible solutions

II. International Accounting Standards: Will the SEC Hamper State Commissions?

III. Mergers: Maryland Conditions a Foreign Acquisition

IV. Effective Regulation: What Are the Principles? Can It Be Learned?

A. Attributes: Purposefulness, education, decisiveness, independence
B. Actions: Balance and preside; or set standards and lead?
C. Impediments: Politics, conversational confusion, and resource differentials
D. Turf: Jurisdiction is a means, not an end.
 

Comments from Past Attendees

"I loved the enthusiasm and the humor. Scott made a dry subject very interesting." "This was an excellent seminar that exceeded my expectations. Scott was very clear and engaging. I'm thrilled that I attended." "Great organization and flow of the presentation. This material can get boring quickly but Scott kept our attention with a good speaking style." "This is a great introductory course. The binder is a fantastic resource; clear, well organized and well cited." "Excellent overview. Very fine and talented instructor."

Seminar Leader

Scott Hempling, Esq. became the Executive Director of the National Regulatory Research Institute in October 2006. He has taught electricity law to thousands of regulators and practitioners from all U.S. jurisdictions. Prior to October 2006, Mr. Hempling was the principal in a national law practice advising state commissions, state legislatures, municipal power systems, marketers, and independent power producers on legal issues affecting the electric industry. He has advised the state commissions of Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia; the Organization of MISO states (14 state Commissions in the Midwest); the consumer counsels of Connecticut, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Texas; municipal systems in Connecticut and Iowa; investor-owned utilities; independent marketers; and public interest organizations.

Mr. Hempling has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress and the state legislatures of Arkansas, California, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia. He has published articles in The Electricity Journal and Public Utilities Fortnightly, and speaks frequently at industry conferences.

Mr. Hempling received a B.A. with honors from Yale University (Economics and Political Science, Music), and a J.D. with high honors from Georgetown University Law Center.