On Thursday July 28, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) held a technical conference to discuss issues surrounding the applicability of PJM Interconnection LLC’s Minimum Offer Price Rule (“MOPR”) to “self-supplying” resources.

On Thursday July 21, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”), the FERC voted 5-0 to issue a final rule on Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation by Transmission Owning and Operating Public Utilities, Order No. 1000 (“Order No. 1000”).  Commissioner Moeller issued a partial dissent to the Final Rule.  A more detailed summary of Order No. 1000 is available here. 

On July 19, 2011, FERC issued an order on Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, and found insufficient consensus to institute a rulemaking proceeding to adopt the five families of standards identified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) as ready for review by the Commission.  Section 1305(d) of the Energy Independence and Security Act (“EISA”) of 2007 directed the Commission to institute a rulemaking proceeding to implement standards and protocols to ensure smart grid functionality and interoperability in transmission of electric power and in electricity markets.

On July 6, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) approved the proposed merger of NSTAR and Northeast Utilities (the “Merger”).  The newly formed utility will operate under the name Northeast Utilities.

On July 11, 2011, FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff announced that the Commission will engage in a public effort to “reassess and streamline” their federal regulations.

On July 1, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) issued an order confirming the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.’s (“Midwest ISO”) interpretation of the Joint Operating Agreement (“JOA”) between it and the Southwest Power Pool (“SPP”).  FERC declared that the JOA allows for the sharing of available transmission capacity between the Midwest ISO, Entergy Arkansas, Inc. (“Entergy Arkansas”), and SPP in the event that Entergy Arkansas becomes a transmission-owning member of the Midwest ISO.

On June 20, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) denied the joint request of Sempra Generation (“Sempra”) to make affiliate sales to San Diego Gas & Electric Company (“SDG&E”) pursuant to a competitive solicitation due to concerns over potential for affiliate abuse. 

On June 16, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) allowed three utilities to terminate their mandatory purchase obligations that would have required new contracts with qualifying cogeneration and small power production facilities (“QF”) with over 20 MW of net capacity under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (“PURPA”).