On May 9, 2011, Chairman Jon Wellinghoff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) and Gerry Cauley, President and Chief Executive Officer of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) announced that they will work together to look into the causes of electrical outages and disruptions of natural gas delivery in the Southwest during February 2011.

On February 14, 2011, FERC issued an order to staff to initiate an inquiry into these outages and disruptions. (See February 18, 2011 edition of the WER).  

According to FERC’s May 9, 2011 news release, FERC and NERC have been sharing information, and will issue a joint report on their finds and recommendations. 

A copy of the Commission’s news release is available here.