On December 7, 2020, FERC issued an order on rehearing sustaining its previous order in which it: found that PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (“PJM”) uplift allocation rules were unjust, unreasonable, and unduly preferential as they did not allocate uplift to Up-to-Congestion (“UTC”) transactions; and directed PJM to update its rate. FERC disagreed with comments provided by XO Energy MA, LP (“XO Energy”) that FERC’s previous order was inconsistent with cost causation principles, since the record in the proceedings did not support a finding that UTCs are the cause of capacity-related costs that would be passed through as uplift.

On December 4, 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) issued a final rule updating its National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) implementing regulations regarding applications to import to, or export from, liquid natural gas (“LNG”) terminals. The final rule follows DOE’s May 1, 2020 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) (see May 22, 2020 edition of the WER). In the preamble to the final rule, DOE explained that the objective of the revision is to improve the efficiency of DOE’s decision-making process through saving time and expense associated with NEPA compliance and eliminating unnecessary environmental documentation.

On November 19, 2020, FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) proposing to reform its regulations and pro forma OATT to improve the accuracy and transparency of transmission line ratings. According to FERC, more accurate line ratings will reduce congestion costs and result in substantial cost savings for consumers, whereas inaccurate line ratings may result in unjust and unreasonable rates.

On December 2, 2020, FERC ordered ISO New England, Inc. (“ISO-NE”) to remove the price-lock mechanism and zero-price offer rule (together, the “New Entrant Rules”) from Tariff provisions relating to its Forward Capacity Market (“FCM”), finding that the price certainty benefit afforded by these rules no longer outweighs their price suppressive effects. FERC also clarified that its termination of these rules would not impact price-lock agreements in effect prior to the issuance of its order. FERC thus ordered ISO-NE to eliminate the New Entrant rules starting in its sixteenth Forward Capacity Auction (“FCA”).

On November 30, 2020, in a late night voice vote, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nominations of Mark Christie and Allison Clements as FERC Commissioners. Once they are sworn in as Commissioners, the bipartisan pairing will fill the remaining two seats on the five-member Commission, with Christie occupying the seat last held by former Commissioner Bernard McNamee for a term ending on June 30, 2025 and Clements occupying the seat last held by Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur for a term ending on June 30, 2024.

On November 19, 2020, FERC issued Opinion No. 569-B, in which it made minor modifications to the discussion in, but largely reaffirmed, its previously-issued Opinion No. 569-A wherein FERC revised its return on equity (“ROE”) analysis and methodology. Specifically, FERC reaffirmed the three-model methodology it had established in Opinion 569-A, while clarifying that one of the models, the “Risk Premium Model”, would employ historical rather than forward-looking bond yields. FERC also updated the Risk Premium Model to both correct typographical errors and include an inadvertently omitted case.

On November 19, 2020, FERC upheld its March 2018 order addressing ISO New England, Inc.’s (“ISO-NE”) Competitive Auctions with Sponsored Policy Resources (“CASPR”) proposal to integrate certain state-supported resources into its capacity market (see March 20, 2018 edition of the WER). FERC’s November 19 order upheld its prior conclusion that the CASPR program is a just and reasonable modification to ISO-NE’s Forward Capacity Market (“FCM”) design that appropriately balances consumer as well as supplier interests. In a separate dissenting opinion, Commissioner Richard Glick concluded that the CASPR program has not shown to be an effective means of accommodating state public policies in the FCM.

On November 19, 2020, FERC issued Order No. 872-A, an order denying rehearing and clarifying portions of Order No. 872, which revised the regulations implementing the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (“PURPA”). In Order No. 872-A, FERC affirmed its previous PURPA regulation amendments in Order No. 872, but provided further explanation regarding six key reforms: (1) states’ use of tiered avoided cost pricing; (2) states’ use of variable energy rates in qualifying facility (“QF”) contracts and availability of utility avoided cost data; (3) the role of independent entities overseeing competitive solicitations that set avoided cost rates; (4) the circumstances under which a small power production QF needs to recertify; (5) the application of the rebuttable presumption of separate sites for the purpose of determining the power production capacity of small power production facilities; and (6) the PURPA section 210(m) rebuttable presumption of nondiscriminatory access to markets and accompanying regulatory text.

On November 12, 2020, FERC accepted two compliance filings submitted by PJM Interconnection, L.LC. (“PJM”) in which PJM proposed updates to its reserve market and forward-looking energy and ancillary services offset (“E&AS Offset”) used in PJM’s capacity market. Commissioner Glick filed a partial dissent, stating that, while he agreed with the implementation of the E&AS Offset, the order was otherwise implementing an unjust and unreasonable rate.