Jill Drum

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On August 20, 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued an order rejecting, without prejudice, a contested proposal from Basin Electric Power Cooperative (“Basin”) to establish special wholesale power sales rate schedules for cryptocurrency (“crypto”) operations and other new large loads.  While FERC expressed sympathy for Basin’s concerns regarding its ability to serve expected load growth reliably and economically, FERC found that Basin failed to justify its proposal to treat crypto currency mining loads differently from other large loads and therefore rejected the differential rate proposal.Continue Reading FERC Rejects Basin’s Special Rate for Crypto and Large Load Customers, Sparking Further Interest in “Large Load” Policy Discussions at FERC

On July 9, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) vacated orders issued by the FERC that required six wholesale power sellers (the “Sellers”) to issue refunds to customers for power sales made above FERC’s “soft” price cap during the 2020 heatwave in California.  The court held that FERC “should have conducted [a] Mobile-Sierra analysis prior to ordering refunds,” and therefore remanded the orders so that FERC could “change its refund analysis for above-cap sales going forward.”Continue Reading Court Vacates FERC “Soft” Cap Refund Order Issued After 2020 California Heat Wave

David Rosner and Lindsay See have been sworn in as FERC’s newest Commissioners on June 13 and 28, 2024, respectively. The FERC Open Meeting on June 27 marked Commissioner Rosner’s first Open Meeting and Commissioner Allison Clements’ last Open Meeting before her term expired on June 30, 2024. The U.S. Senate previously confirmed now-current Commissioners Rosner and See on June 13, 2024, along with Judy Chang. It is likely that Judy Chang will be sworn in as Commissioner in the coming days. Judy Chang’s swearing in will bring the agency to its full complement of five commissioners.  Continue Reading David Rosner and Lindsay See Sworn in as FERC Commissioners; Allison Clements’ Term Expires

On June 28, 2024, the United States Supreme Court (“Supreme Court”) overruled its prior decision in Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council (“Chevron”) in a 6-3 vote in Loper Bright Enterprises et al. v. Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce, et al. (“Loper Bright”). The Chevron doctrine has required federal courts to defer to administrative agencies’ interpretations of statutes the agency administers when the underlying statute is ambiguous. Under the Loper Bright ruling, federal courts will not defer to administrative agencies in interpreting ambiguous statutes and instead must exercise their judgment in determining whether the agency acted within its statutory authority. The decision will likely have a substantial impact on both regulated industries and federal agencies such as FERC.Continue Reading SCOTUS Overrules Chevron Deference in 6-3 Ruling