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On March 4, 2014, FERC announced an upcoming technical conference on the recent revisions to the Electric Quarterly Report (“EQR”) filing process.  At the technical conference FERC staff will demonstrate and discuss the two new options for filing EQRs before the system goes “live” and public and non-public utilities are required to file their EQRs,  in accordance with FERC’s revised deadlines (see March 3, 2014 edition of the WER).

On March 4, 2014, FERC announced a procedural practice change regarding filings during weather-related closures of Washington, D.C.-based federal government offices.  Effective March 7, 2014, FERC announced that it will no longer accept filings, either in person or online, when the Office of Personnel closes the federal government in Washington, D.C. for weather-related events.  FERC will resume accepting submissions upon the reopening of the federal government in Washington, D.C.

On February 28, 2014, the Commission issued an order setting the deadlines for all public and non-public utilities to file Electric Quarterly Reports (“EQRs”) for the third quarter (“Q3”) and fourth quarter (“Q4”) of 2013, and for the first quarter (“Q1”) of 2014.   The Commission’s February 28th order follows a January 22, 2014 technical conference held by FERC to discuss revisions to the EQR process (see January 27, 2014 edition of the WER).

On Monday, February 24, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States (“Supreme Court”) denied a petition for certiorari challenging a United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (“Seventh Circuit”) decision that upheld a FERC order approving the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.’s (“MISO”) cost allocation methodology for multi-value projects (“MVPs”). 

On February 21, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) vacated and remanded a FERC gas storage order for failure to offer a reasoned basis for its decision.  The D.C. Circuit held that FERC acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it ordered that new natural gas storage customers pay for replenishing base gas via incremental rates, rather than spreading the costs amongst all customers through rolled-in rates.

On February 21, 2014, FERC announced that it will hold a technical conference on the “Winter 2013-2014 Operations and Market Performance in Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators.”  Through the technical conference, FERC intends to examine the impacts of cold weather events that occurred this winter and actions taken to address these impacts.  The technical conference will be held on April 1, 2014 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and led by FERC Staff. 

On Thursday, February 20, 2014, FERC issued a partial clarification of Order No. 784, the final rule on third-party provision of ancillary services and the accounting and financial reporting for new electric storage facilities (“Order No. 784-A”).  The clarification addressed concerns related to transmission scheduling practices required with regard to the provision of reserves, filing requirements, application to non-public utilities, deadlines for implementing data reporting, and how accounting requirements are applied.

On February 20, 2014, FERC proposed a policy statement regarding section 305(a) of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”) that would allow the payment of dividends from funds included in capital accounts by a public utility that (1) has a market-based rate tariff on file with FERC; (2) does not have captive customers; and (3) does not provide transmission or local distribution services.  Whereas such payments are generally prohibited under section 305(a), FERC reasoned that its proposed exception would not trigger the concerns underlying FPA section 305(a).  FERC is inviting comments on the proposed policy.

On February 7, 2014, FERC approved a Stipulation and Consent Agreement (“Agreement”) between the Office of Enforcement (“Enforcement”) and Louis Dreyfus Energy Services L.P. (“LDES”) regarding LDES’ virtual trading in the markets operated by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (“MISO”).  LDES agreed to (1) pay MISO a disgorgement of $3,340,000 plus interest; (2) pay a civil penalty of $4,072,257; and (3) institute a new compliance program.  Additionally, one of LDES’ traders, Xu Cheng, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $310,000.

On February 11, 2014, FERC issued a final rule delegating authority to the Director of the Office of Electric Reliability (“OER”) to review and process Notices of Penalty (“Notices”) filed at FERC by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.  In particular, the OER Director will now have the authority to extend the period of time to consider such Notices for purposes of obtaining additional information.