On November 29, 2017, Richard Glick was sworn in as the latest FERC Commissioner.  Following his nomination for the position by President Trump in August, Commissioner Glick was confirmed by the Senate on November 2, 2017 (see November 7, 2017 edition of the WER).  Commissioner Glick was previously…

On October 31, 2017, FERC accepted proposed revisions to the ISO New England, Inc. (“ISO-NE”) Transmission, Markets and Services Tariff (“Tariff”) to incorporate a methodology for interconnection request cluster studies, which were filed by ISO-NE, the New England Power Pool Participants Committee, and the Participating Transmission Owners Administrative Committee on behalf of the Participating Transmission Owners (collectively, the “Filing Parties”).  Under the new revisions, which became effective on November 1, 2017, interconnection requests for resources located in the same electrical part of the ISO-NE system and that meet certain other criteria, will be studied together, as opposed to individually.  As part of the stakeholder discussions preceding the filing, ISO-NE developed a strategic infrastructure study to identify the transmission upgrades needed to interconnect remotely-located wind resources in Maine, which will serve as the first cluster study to proceed under the newly-accepted methodology.

On November 2, 2017, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nominations of Kevin McIntyre and Richard Glick to join FERC.  McIntyre will serve as Chairman once he is officially sworn in.  Together, McIntyre and Glick will fill the five-member Commission board for the first time since October 2015.

On September 27, 2017, U.S. Senators Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) introduced Senate Bill 1860: A bill to amend section 203 of the Federal Power Act (the “FPA”).  The legislation, dubbed “The Parity Across Reviews Act” (the “Act”), would amend section 203(a)(1)(B) to add a $10 million threshold to the requirement to seek FERC approval prior to a public utility acquiring FERC-jurisdictional facilities.  Additionally, for transactions with a value greater than $1 million, but less than the newly-proposed $10 million threshold, the Act requires FERC to promulgate a rule, within 180 days of the enactment of the Act, that would require a public utility to notify FERC within 30 days of consummating such an acquisition. 

On August 10, 2017, Robert Powelson was officially sworn-in as a FERC Commissioner, restoring the three-Commissioner quorum necessary for FERC to resume regular business and vote on matters before it.  Commissioner Powelson joins Commissioner Neil Chatterjee, who was sworn in on August 8, 2017, and Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur.  On the same day as Commissioner Powelson’s swearing-in, President Trump named Commissioner Chatterjee to be Chairman until one of the remaining FERC Commissioner nominees, Kevin McIntyre, is confirmed by the Senate and sworn in.

On the evening of August 3, 2017, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to confirm Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson, two of President Donald Trump’s nominees to join Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur as FERC Commissioners.  Once Chatterjee and Powelson are officially sworn in at the Commission, the quorum that has been lacking since former Chairman Norman Bay resigned earlier this year will be restored, enabling the Commission to vote on matters before it.  On September 7, 2017, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources also is scheduled to consider the nominations of Richard Glick and Kevin McIntyre—the final two nominees for the five-member Commission whose names the White House sent to the Senate in August.

On July 20, 2017, the D.C. Court of Appeals (the “Court”) upheld the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia’s (the “DCPSC”) approval of the merger between Exelon Corporation and Pepco Holdings, Inc. (“Applicants”).  Specifically, the Court held that the DCPSC provided adequate notice to the public of hearings on the merger and the DCPSC adequately explained how its decisions were in the public interest.