On November 3, 2011, the Director of the Office of Energy Projects for FERC issued a delegated order dismissing the uncontested application of Pivotal LNG, Inc. (“Pivotal”) for a limited jurisdiction blanket transportation certificate, under section 7(c) of the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”), in order to own and operate a liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) facility in support of its non-jurisdictional LNG fuel business.

On November 10, 2011, it was announced that former Representative Rick Boucher (D-Va.), former FERC Chairman Curt Hebert Jr., and Allison Clements, director of the Project for Sustainable FERC Energy Policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council will lead a new Bipartisan Policy Center panel.  

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) for the most part turned back requests for rehearing regarding the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.’s (“MISO”) Multi-Value-Project (“MVP”) cost allocation plan. 

In a case that highlights some of the regulatory challenges presented by shifts in the nation’s generation mix, on October 20, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) accepted Puget Sound Energy, Inc.’s (“Puget”) proposed Schedules 3 and 13 concerning rates for Regulation and Frequency Response Service, but suspended them for a five-month period, to become effective January 5, 2012, subject to refund, and set them for hearing and settlement judge procedures.

On October 20, 2011, FERC approved a new two-part compensation method for frequency regulation in wholesale power markets that would provide higher compensation for faster ramping technologies.  The Commission found that the old form of regulation service payment from regional transmission organizations (“RTOs”) and independent system operators (“ISOs”) were unjust, unreasonable, and unduly discriminatory because it failed to acknowledge the speed of different ramping resources, and in some cases this led to inefficient economic dispatch.

On October 20, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) denied the bulk of the rehearing requests pertaining to the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.’s (“MISO”) cost allocation methodology for new transmission multi value projects (“MVP”), and the Commission denied all rehearing requests on the Southwest Power Pool, Inc.’s (“SPP”) Highway/Byway cost allocation plan.