Transmission

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On September 7, 2016, FERC accepted the New York Independent System Operator Inc.’s (“NYISO”) proposed revisions to Attachment Y of its Open Access Transmission Tariff (“OATT”) to modify its Public Policy Transmission Planning Process. Additionally, FERC clarified its requirement that NYISO establish a cost allocation methodology for the transmission portion of an “Other Public Policy Project” that is selected during the regional transmission planning process consistent with Order No. 1000.

On August 26, 2016, FERC established a proceeding to determine whether transmission owners in the footprint of the PJM Interconnection L.L.C. (“PJM”) are complying with the requirements of Order No. 890. This proceeding follows a November 2015 technical conference in which several PJM transmission customers and other parties suggested that PJM stakeholders are unable to meaningfully participate in the transmission planning process for certain PJM projects, in contravention of Order No. 890’s planning requirements.

On July 7, 2016, FERC granted waiver of certain provisions of the Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (“SPP”) Open Access Transmission Tariff in order to permit SPP to implement the revenue crediting process for certain transmission upgrades. In its order, FERC noted that SPP’s implementation of the revenue crediting process had been delayed for eight years, and that “[u]pgrade sponsors who have been negatively affected by SPP’s delay will finally, through this order, get the appropriate relief.”

On June 16, 2016, FERC amended its regulations to require that the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) provide FERC Commissioners and staff with access, on a non-public and ongoing basis, to NERC’s Transmission Availability Data System (“TADS”), the Generating Availability Data System (“GADS”), and the protection system misoperations database. While FERC explained that such access would “provide the Commission with information necessary to determine the need for new or modified Reliability Standards and to better understand NERC’s periodic reliability and adequacy assessments,” it also added that “the Commission is not precluded from using the accessed data for other statutory purposes.”

On April 22, 2016, FERC denied a complaint filed by the Maryland and Delaware Public Service Commissions (the “Complainants”) against PJM Interconnection LLC (“PJM”) alleging that PJM’s use of the solution-based distribution factor (“DFAX”) method to allocate the costs for a new transmission project in PJM was unjust and unreasonable. In denying the complaint, FERC accepted the proposed cost allocation for the “Artificial Island Project.”

On February 1, 2016, FERC denied a complaint filed by NRG Power Marketing LLC (“NRG”) against the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (“MISO”) alleging that MISO violated its tariff when it modified the Commercial Pricing Nodes (“CPNodes”) in the MISO South region to reflect the incorporation of Entergy into MISO. In particular, NRG claimed MISO’s modifications to the CPNodes effectively nullified the results of the Financial Transmission Right (“FTR”) auctions and rendered the FTRs purchased by NRG in those auctions “valueless.”

On December 31, 2015, FERC issued an order applying the seven-factor test to exclude certain transmission facilities owned by Southern California Edison Company (“SoCal Edison”) from North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) regulation. SoCal Edison filed an application under Section 215 of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”) and FERC Order No. 773, seeking a determination from FERC that certain of its 115 kV facilities were “facilities used in the local distribution of electric energy,” and therefore, were exempt from NERC regulation under the plain language contained in Section 215 of the FPA. In its application, SoCal Edison presented seven transmission and substation facility configurations for FERC consideration. Using the seven-factor test set forth in Order No. 888, FERC determined that five of the seven facilities were “facilities used in local distribution” and were exempt.

On December 23, 2015, FERC rejected the New York Independent System Operator, Inc.’s (“NYISO”) proposed revisions to the Public Policy Transmission Planning Process (“Public Policy Process”) portion of its Comprehensive System Planning Process (“CSPP”) reflected in Attachment Y of its Open Access Transmission Tariff (“OATT”). In rejecting the proposal, FERC found that NYISO proposed tariff revisions that would subject nonincumbent transmission developers to an interconnection process with different requirements than those applied to incumbent Transmission Owners.

On November 30, 2015, the Commission rejected proposed revisions to Southwest Power Pool, Inc’s (“SPP”) Open Access Transmission Tariff (“OATT”) that would have created a new category of transmission facility—called a “Seams Transmission Project”—eligible for approval under SPP’s transmission planning and cost allocation processes.