On February 11, 2014, FERC issued a final rule delegating authority to the Director of the Office of Electric Reliability (“OER”) to review and process Notices of Penalty (“Notices”) filed at FERC by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.  In particular, the OER Director will now have the authority to extend the period of time to consider such Notices for purposes of obtaining additional information.  The order also revises FERC’s regulations to remove the same authority previously held by the Director of the Office of Enforcement (“OE”), as well as the OE Director’s related authority to require the provision of additional information necessary to review and process Notices.  FERC concluded that these delegation changes will lead to more efficient internal operations. 

FERC’s rule will become effective upon publication in the Federal Register.  A copy of the final rule is available here.