On April 24, 2015, FERC approved PJM Interconnection LLC’s (“PJM”) request for waiver of its tariff to delay its 2015 Base Residual Auction (“BRA”) for the 2018-2019 delivery year.  As a result of the waiver, PJM’s BRA will not take place as originally scheduled, but rather during a week that is 30 to 75 days after FERC rules on the merits of PJM’s pending capacity performance proposal, but no later than the week of August 10-14, 2015.

On Wednesday, April 15, 2015, Commissioner Norman Bay formally assumed the chairmanship of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”), succeeding Chairman Cheryl LaFleur, who will remain on the Commission.

On April 16, 2015, FERC approved a new policy statement that will allow interstate natural gas pipelines to recover certain capital costs used to modernize or replace the pipeline’s existing facilities through the use of a surcharge mechanism.  FERC explained that the new policy statement was created in anticipation of new, future requirements from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration that will likely require interstate pipelines to upgrade their pipeline systems for improved safety and reliability.

On April 16, 2015, FERC issued Order No. 809, “Coordination of the Scheduling Processes of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines and Public Utilities,” in furtherance of its goal to improve the coordination of wholesale natural gas and electricity market scheduling in order to ensure the reliable and efficient operation of the nation’s natural gas pipeline and electric systems.  In issuing Order No. 809, FERC explained that as the nation increasingly relies on natural gas for electric generation, FERC has identified a mounting concern related to this growing gas-electric interdependence and a misalignment between the gas and electric operating days.

On April 7, 2015, PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (“PJM”) requested a one-time waiver of its tariff so that PJM may delay its upcoming Base Residual Auction (“BRA”) until after FERC has ruled on its December 2014 capacity performance tariff revision filing.  PJM requested to delay the BRA from the week of May 11-15, 2015 to a week that is 30 to 75 days after FERC’s ruling on the merits of its capacity performance proposal, but no later than the week of August 10-14, 2015.  PJM stated that the delay until after FERC acts on its capacity performance filing would allow for market participant certainty on the status, schedule, and rules for the BRA.

On March 31, 2015, the Commission denied a proposal from PJM Interconnection, LLC (“PJM”) to modify the manner in which demand response resources participate in capacity auctions within the RTO.  PJM’s proposal was intended as a means of maintaining the participation of demand response resources in PJM’s capacity market in the event that the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the D.C. Circuit’s May 2014 ruling vacating Order No. 745 (see May 27, 2014 edition of the WER).

On March 27, 2015, FERC issued two separate orders approving Dynegy Inc. and Dynegy Resource I, LLC’s (collectively, “Dynegy”) $6.25 billion acquisition of merchant generators from Duke Energy Corporation (“Duke”) and Energy Capital Partners LLC (“ECP”).  Upon consummation of the acquisitions, Dynegy will own 100 percent equity interest in several ECP subsidiaries, a 49.5 percent equity interest in Elwood Energy (an ECP subsidiary), and 100 percent equity interest in Duke Energy Commercial Asset Management, LLC and Duke Energy Retail Sales, LLC.