CD: The D.C. Circuit Rejects Connecticut's Challenge to FERC

Whether you missed the original broadcast of this teleseminar or you attended and just want to listen to the presentation again, order the CD of this event. Use it for yourself, or better yet, set up a training session for other members of your staff at a time that’s most convenient for you. State utility commissions and NASUCA members pay only a shipping and handling fee of $15. You can expect your CD about 10 days after you place your order.

Electric Resource Adequacy:
The D.C. Circuit Rejects Connecticut's Challenge to FERC
Now Who's In Charge?

Originally air date: July 16, 2009

If you’re a practitioner, a decisionmaker, or in any way interested in how the evolving federal-state jurisdictional relationship affects electric capacity, pricing and planning, be sure to purchase the CD of this comprehensive teleseminar from NRRI, originally recorded on Thursday, July 16, 2009.

On June 23rd, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that FERC has authority to approve, over state commission objections, reserve capacity requirements allocated to retail load-serving utilities by regional transmission organizations. Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control v. FERC, No. 07-1375 (D.C. Circuit June 23, 2009). With the court’s rejection of Connecticut’s assertion that FERC had engaged in "direct regulation of generation facilities" (activity which FPA Section 201(b) denies to FERC) and its decision that FERC was regulating a "practice ... affecting rates," a subject squarely "within the heartland of" the Commission's jurisdiction under FPA Section 206(a), many are asking what roles remain for the states if FERC can approve binding regional allocations of capacity obligations.

NRRI Executive Director Scott Hempling discusses the impact of this ruling with Commissioner Lauren Azar (WI PSC) and Steve Kozey, MISO general counsel. You’ll gain a better understanding of this case and its implications for state commission decisionmaking when you purchase the CD of this insightful 90-minute teleseminar.

Here’s just some of what you’ll learn:

• The latest court-speak on how the Federal Power Act of 1935 divides jurisdiction between FERC and states.
• How regional transmission organizations (RTO), created to provide transmission service, have entered the generation domain.
• How the June 23rd decision will affect RTO policies in their regions.
• How the Court's reasoning might apply outside of RTO regions.
• The agony of applying a 1935 statute to 2009 markets.

Scott Hempling begins by summarizing the background law and the Court's decision. Then Commissioner Azar and Steve Kozey provide their insight on the following questions:

• How do we reconcile an individual state's preferences for capacity mix and reserve ratios with FERC's duty to ensure reliable, reasonably priced power throughout a multistate region?
• In light of intraregional interconnectedness, is it even physically possible for an individual state to insist on its preferences without shifting the effects to other states? Is this a "state vs. fed" issue or a "state vs. state" issue? And is an individual state's pursuit of its own power supply preferences necessarily consistent with the region's best interest?
• When some regional actors cause costs for other regional actors, who should regulate—and what should they regulate?
• In a case like this, is the state commission acting as a regulator or as an advocate for its consumers? And are these the same roles or different roles?

Hear what the experts have to say on the subject when you purchase the CD of the NRRI teleseminar “Electric Resource Adequacy: The D.C. Circuit Rejects Connecticut's Challenge to FERC—Now Who's In Charge?” which originally aired on July 16, 2009.

Seminar panel of experts:
Scott Hempling, Executive Director, NRRI
Commissioner Lauren Azar, Wisconsin Public Service Commission
Steve Kozey, General Counsel, Midwest Independent System Operator

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