On Monday, February 24, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States (“Supreme Court”) denied a petition for certiorari challenging a United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (“Seventh Circuit”) decision that upheld a FERC order approving the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.’s (“MISO”) cost allocation methodology for multi-value projects (“MVPs”). 

In 2010, MISO sought FERC approval for tariff changes that would allow MISO to pass through the construction costs of MVPs to utilities that draw electricity from the MISO grid, with costs allocated based on the proportion of a utility’s wholesale consumption of electricity within the region.  MVPs are high-voltage transmission lines (at least 100 kV) that assist MISO members in meeting state renewable goals, fix reliability problems, or provide economic benefits in multiple pricing zones.  FERC approved the tariff changes.

On June 7, 2013, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the majority of FERC’s approval of MISO’s MVP cost allocation, dismissed one issue, and remanded another back to FERC for further analysis.  See June 17, 2013 edition of the WER.  With the Supreme Court’s denial of cert, the Seventh Circuit’s ruling remains in place.  The Supreme Court did not state a reason for its denial.