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On December 7, 2010, AGL Resources Inc. (“AGL”) and Nicor Inc. (“Nicor”) announced that Nicor will merge with an AGL subsidiary to form one of the largest natural gas distribution companies in the United States.

As 2011 rapidly approaches, electric utilities face significant legal and regulatory uncertainty on a variety of fronts.  First, with respect to transmission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on transmission planning and cost allocation and the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.’s (“MISO”) so-called “MVP” filing, which socializes the costs of new transmission projects across the entire MISO region, both remain pending. 

On November 30, 2010, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) released its 2010/2011 Winter Reliability Assessment (the “Assessment”) and the 2009/2010 Post-Winter Reliability Assessment.  NERC prepares an annual reliability assessment that demonstrates how the industry maintains the bulk power system for both summers and winters. 

On November 30, 2010, President Barack Obama’s Council of Advisor’s on Science and Technology (the “Council”) called for more investment in energy Research & Development (“R&D”) funding.  The Council suggested in a November 2010 Report on this topic that the amount of money spent on energy R&D should increase from $5 billion per year to $16 billion per year. 

On November 18, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) on Integrating Variable Energy Resources (“VERs”) into the electric grid (the “Proposed Rule”). 

On November 18, 2010, FERC directed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) to revise the definition of the bulk electric system to include all facilities necessary for operating an interconnected transmission network.  FERC said this is best achieved by eliminating the ability of regions to have discretion over the definition, and the definition should include all facilities at or above 100 kV except defined radial facilities. 

On Sunday, November 14, 2010, a brief blackout occurred during the third quarter of the National Football League (“NFL”) game between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys.  The blackout left 81,000 spectators in complete darkness after an initial dimming of the lights caused the officials to halt play.