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On September 19, 2013, FERC issued a final rule approving the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (“NERC”) modifications to four requirements for electricity reliability.  The modifications were proposed to close perceived reliability gaps associated with generator interconnection facilities without the need for most generator owners or operators to register as transmission owners or operators.

On September 20, 2013, Clearwater Paper Corporation (“Clearwater”) filed with FERC a petition for enforcement pursuant to section 210(H) of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (“PURPA”) against the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (“Idaho PUC”).  The petition alleges that the Idaho PUC impermissibly moved to allocate, without compensation to a Qualifying Facility (“QF”), one half of all Renewable Energy Credits (“RECs”) created through that facility’s PURPA QF contracts within Idaho to the utility purchasing the QF’s power under a PURPA contract.

On September 19, 2013, FERC issued Order No. 764-B, further clarifying its Integration of Variable Energy Resources (“VER”) rule originally established in Order No. 764.  Powerex Corporation (“Powerex”) and Iberdrola Renewables, LLC (“Iberdrola Renewables”) had sought clarification, or in the alternative rehearing, of issues related to e-Tagging and the Bonneville Power Administration’s (“Bonneville”) practice of curtailments pursuant to its Dispatcher Standing Order (“DSO”) 216 protocol. 

On September 13, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) held that the Department of Interior (“Interior”) breached its 2006 precedent agreement (“Precedent Agreement”) with Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (“Rockies Express”) after the Interior refused to sign a related transportation agreement with Rockies Express.  The case involved a series of contracts between Rockies Express and a unit of the Interior – Minerals Management Service – that included Royalty-in-Kind (“RIK”) provisions, all of which allowed the Interior to ship natural gas that Rockies Express extracted from nearby federal land.

On September 13, 2013, the Tennessee Valley Authority (“TVA”) announced the members of the new Regional Energy Resource Council (“RERC”).  The RERC is an advisory board that consists of 19 members and is designed to advise TVA on current and future energy activities.  Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the TVA Board of Directors established the RERC during its April 2013 meeting.  The RERC includes citizens of all TVA states and members from both the public and private sectors.

On September 12, 2013, FERC issued an order (“September 12 Order”) granting in part and denying in part requests for clarification filed by Puget Sound Energy, Inc. (“Puget”) and Powerex Corporation (“Powerex”) of a May 20, 2013 order (“May 20 Order”) accepting for filing certain non-conforming service agreements for conditional firm point-to-point transmission service executed between Puget and Morgan Stanley Capital Group, Inc. (“Morgan Stanley”).

On Thursday, September 5, 2013, FERC granted eBay Inc. (“eBay”) market-based rate authority, effective August 26, 2013.  eBay is developing an approximately 6 MW fuel cell generation facility at its South Jordan, Utah data center.  While the facility will primarily be used to provide onsite power for the data center, eBay sought blanket authority to sell any excess energy that is produced.

On September 3, 2013, FERC approved proposed revisions by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) to simplify its process for exempting companies from compliance with Critical Infrastructure Protection (“CIP”) reliability standards.  According to NERC, the new process will operate more efficiently by streamlining the processes for submission, review, acceptance or rejection, and modification of previously accepted Technical Feasibility Exceptions (“TFE”).

On Monday, August 29, 2013 FERC issued three civil penalty orders after concluding that three separate entities manipulated ISO New England, Inc.’s (“ISO-NE”) Day-Ahead Load Response Program (“DALRP”).  Specifically, FERC found that Lincoln Paper and Tissue, LLC (“Lincoln”), Competitive Energy Service, LLC (“CES”), and CES’s managing member Dr. Richard Silkman (“Silkman”) each violated FERC’s Prohibition on Market Manipulation by creating phantom load reductions in order to defraud ISO-NE of demand response payments.