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On August 29, 2025, FERC issued three orders accepting tariff revisions proposed by PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric (“PGE”) to enable both utility’s participation in the California Independent System Operator Corporation’s (“CAISO”) Extended Day-Ahead Market (“EDAM”) and accepting CAISO’s proposed tariff revisions which modify the EDAM’s allocation of congestion revenues. The three orders issued by FERC clear the way for PacifiCorp and PGE, the first two entities to file tariff revisions to participate in the EDAM, to enter the market in 2026.

On August 25, 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) granted NextEra Duane Arnold, LLC (“NEDA”) a waiver of certain sections of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.’s (“MISO”) tariff to use MISO’s generating facility replacement process for the recommissioning of the Duane Arnold nuclear power facility (“Project”) in Palo, Iowa. The order also extends the Project’s commercial operation date to December 31, 2029.

On June 2, 2025, President Donald Trump announced the nomination of Laura Swett to occupy the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) seat previously held by Chairman Mark Christie. Following this, on July 16, 2025, Trump nominated David LaCerte for another vacant commissioner position at FERC. Swett is currently practicing as an energy attorney at the law firm Vinson & Elkins, while LaCerte serves as the principal White House liaison and senior advisor to the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

On July 11, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (“Ninth Circuit”) issued an opinion in Pacific Gas & Electric Company v. FERC, addressing a challenge by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (“PG&E”), Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric Company (collectively, the “California Utilities”) to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) order denying PG&E’s request for an “RTO Adder” for its participation in the California Independent System Operator Corporation (“CAISO”). The Utilities argued that they were entitled to this incentive under section 219(c) of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”), but FERC determined that their participation in CAISO was not voluntary due to California law mandating their participation, and thus they were ineligible for the adder. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit affirmed FERC’s order.

On July 15, 2025, FERC initiated an investigation, pursuant to section 206 of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”), to assess whether the Western Electricity Coordinating Council’s (“WECC”) soft price cap on spot market energy sales should be eliminated. FERC preliminarily concluded that the WECC soft price cap is no longer just and reasonable because of changes in the circumstances in the WECC market, and thus proposed its elimination pending the results of the investigation. FERC requested that interested parties submit comments within 30 days of its order (i.e., by August 14, 2025). FERC expects to issue an order on the results of its investigation by December 30, 2025.

On July 11, 2025, the D.C. Circuit upheld PJM Interconnection L.L.C.’s (“PJM”) assessment of $12 million in penalties against Energy Harbor, LLC (“Energy Harbor”) for failing to perform when called upon by PJM during a major winter storm in December 2022. The D.C. Circuit held that PJM-approved maintenance at Energy Harbor’s coal-fired generation facility, the W.H. Sammis Plant (“Sammis Plant”), was not the sole cause of the Sammis Plant’s nonperformance, and therefore Energy Harbor was not excepted from penalties under PJM’s Open Access Transmission Tariff (“OATT”).

On June 26, 2025, FERC upheld PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (PJM) proposal to revise its Capacity Performance Quantifiable Risk (CPQR) Offer Cap. Several public interest organizations and PJM’s Independent Market Monitor (Market Monitor) filed requests for rehearing, arguing that PJM’s tariff changes did not adequately differentiate between costs directly related to capacity commitments and those incurred for other reasons, potentially leading to unfair rates. FERC disagreed, stating that PJM’s definition of CPQR provides a clear principle for identifying relevant costs and prevents sellers from inflating offer caps with unrelated expenses. The Commission emphasized that the review process by PJM and the Market Monitor ensures adherence to this principle, maintaining fair and competitive market practices.

On June 20, 2025, FERC approved Southwest Power Pool, Inc.’s (SPP) revisions to its Western Energy Imbalance Service (WEIS) tariff to allow a participating balancing authority to initiate a market hold due to reliability concerns and to specify how SPP will settle the market in the event of such a market hold. FERC found that the revisions will allow participating balancing authorities to timely respond to reliability-based events while avoiding disruptions to the WEIS market.

On June 18, 2025, FERC temporarily raised the cost limits for blanket certificate natural gas pipeline projects constructed and placed into service by May 31, 2027, from $41 million to $61.65 million. Citing what it called a pressing nationwide near-term demand for expanded natural gas transportation capacity and reliability concerns…