On December 2, 2014, FERC authorized Constitution Pipeline Company, LLC (“Constitution”) to construct and operate its proposed approximately 124-mile-long, 30-inch diameter interstate pipeline, and related facilities, extending from Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, to a proposed interconnection with Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. (“Iroquois”) in Schoharie County, New York (the “Constitution Pipeline”).  In the same order, FERC also authorized Iroquois to construct and operate compression facilities, and modify existing facilities, in the town of Wright, New York (the “Wright Interconnect Project”), and to lease the associated incremental capacity associated with the Wright Interconnect Project to Constitution.

On November 20, 2014, FERC issued a proposed policy statement that would allow interstate natural gas pipelines to use a surcharge or tracker mechanism to recover certain capital expenditures made to modernize pipeline system infrastructure in order to enhance reliability, safety and regulatory compliance.

On November 20, 2014, the Commission issued an order accepting the Five-Year Performance Assessment of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”).  In its order, the Commission concluded that NERC continued to meet the qualifications necessary for certification as the Electric Reliability Organization (“ERO”) of the United States, and issued additional compliance directives for NERC going forward.

On November 20, 2014, FERC’s Office of Enforcement (“Enforcement”) released its 2014 Report on Enforcement (“Report”).  The Report provided an overview of Enforcement’s activities during 2014, specifically detailing the activities of the Division of Investigations (“DOI”), Division of Audits and Accounting (“DAA”), Division of Energy Market Oversight (“Market Oversight”), and Division of Analytics and Surveillance (“DAS”).  The Report is provided pursuant to FERC’s 2008 Revised Policy Statement on Enforcement, and according to the Report, is designed to provide additional information regarding the nature of the non-public work of Enforcement.

On November 10, 2014, FERC accepted the Southwest Power Pool, Inc.’s (“SPP”) proposal to integrate the Western Area Power Administration – Upper Great Plains Region (“Western-UGP”), Basin Electric Power Cooperative, and Heartland Consumers Power District (collectively the “Joint Integrated System Parties”) into SPP.  FERC’s order significantly expands the SPP market, more than doubling its size.  Combined, the Joint Integrated System Parties operate the bulk electric transmission system across multiples states in the Upper Great Plains region, including Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, with systems consisting of approximately 9,500 miles of transmission lines.

On November 7, 2014, the Commission denied Consumers Energy Company’s (“Consumers”) request for limited waiver of several MISO tariff provisions on the grounds that Consumers had failed to adequately demonstrate that the requested waiver would not cause undesirable consequences, such as harming third-parties.  Consumers had filed its request for waiver in response to conflicting regulatory obligations under the MISO tariff and the EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (“MATS”).

On November 10, 2014, FERC approved a contested settlement between several California utilities and the California Public Utilities Commission (collectively, the “California Parties”) against the California Department of Water Resources (“CDWR”), State Water Project for actions that arose during the western energy crisis from 2000 – 2001.  Under the settlement, the CDWR State Water Project will pay $26.6 million to the California Parties for its actions during the western energy crisis.

On November 3, 2014, FERC’s Office of Enforcement (“Enforcement”) issued a Notice of Alleged Violations against Maxim Power Corporation (“Maxim”), suggesting that Maxim engaged in three schemes in ISO-New England (“ISO-NE”) that violated section 222(a) of the Federal Power Act and FERC’s Anti-Manipulation Rule, 18 C.F.R. § 1c.2. 

On October 31, 2014, the Commission announced that it will hold a technical conference on January 7, 2015 concerning the justness and reasonableness of PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s
(“PJM”) existing tariff provisions related to the Financial Transmission Rights (“FTR”) forfeiture rule and uplift allocations as applied to Up-to Congestion (“UTC”) transactions.

On November 5, 2014, Southern California Edison (“SCE”) announced that it entered into contracts for 2,221 MW of power to satisfy its customers’ demand, including contracts for 262 MW of long-term storage capacity.  The energy storage agreements were in response to the California Public Utilities Commission’s (“CPUC”) rulemaking that set energy storage targets for investor-owned utilities in the State of California.