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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 October 20, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) approved a request by FERC to delay finalizing its decision that vacated FERC Order No. 745 regarding demand response compensation for consumers.  The D.C. Circuit approved the delay through December 16, 2014.  Additionally, it stated that if it is notified of a petition for writ of certiorari filed during the delay, the court will withhold issuance of the mandate finalizing its decision to vacate, pending the Supreme Court’s final disposition.

On October 24, 2014, FERC dismissed requests for rehearing on the notice placing the ISO New England Inc.’s (“ISO-NE”) eighth annual Forward Capacity Auction (“FCA”) results into effect (“FCA Notice”).  FERC ruled that because the results of the auction took effect by operation of law, rather than a FERC-issued order, there was no order to rehear.

On October 22, 2014, the Commission denied a complaint filed by Powerex Corp. seeking relief from $937,927.33 in imbalance energy charges assessed against it by the California Independent System Operator Corporation (“CAISO”) for its failure to deliver prescheduled energy during a 2013 wildfire in California and Nevada.

On October 15, 2014, the Commission granted Indianapolis Power & Light Company’s (“IPL”) request for a limited, one-time waiver of certain provisions of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (“MISO”) Open Access Transmission Tariff (“OATT”) in connection with IPL’s retirement of Eagle Valley coal units 3-6 (“Eagle Valley”) to comply with the EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (“MATS”).

On October 21, 2014, FERC Staff released two reports entitled Shortage Pricing in RTO and ISO Markets, and Energy Offer Mitigation in RTO and ISO Markets.  The reports are intended to spur discussion at FERC’s October 28, 2014 workshop on scarcity and shortage pricing, offer mitigation, and offer caps in Regional Transmission Organizations (“RTOs”) and Independent System Operators (“ISOs”).

On October 16, 2014, the Commission accepted in part Southwest Power Pool’s (“SPP”) proposed revisions to its Open Access Transmission Tariff (“OATT”) in compliance with Order No. 1000, and determined that SPP could consider certain state and local laws and regulations in the early stages of its competitive solicitation process for transmission planning.

On October 16, 2014, FERC issued two separate orders addressing the base return on equity (“ROE”) for (1) the New England transmission owners (“NETOs”) operating in ISO-New England Inc., and (2) certain transmission-owning members of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (“MISO TOs”).  In the NETO order, FERC determined that the base ROE should be set at 10.57 percent.  In the MISO TO order, FERC found that the complaint raises material issues of fact regarding whether the current base ROE of 12.38 percent remains just and reasonable, and therefore set the matter for hearing.

On October 16, 2014 FERC issued an order accepting Bonneville Power Administration’s (“BPA”) revised Oversupply Management Protocol (“OMP”) and OS-14 Oversupply Rate (“OS-14 Rate”) as a compliance filing under FPA Section 211A standards.  The Commission also issued an order approving the OS-14 rate under BPA’s Northwest Power Act rate standards.  In making the approval, FERC stated that its acceptance of the BPA’s OMP remains an interim solution and that the Revised OMP expires on September 30, 2015.  If BPA desired to extend the use of OMP beyond that date, it will be required to file a request to do so with FERC, explaining why the continued use of OMP is justified.  FERC encouraged BPA to continue to work toward a “mutually agreeable long-term solution to manage oversupply conditions rather than continuing to rely on involuntary curtailment.”