On June 6, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) released a Notice of Proposed Communications with the Department of Justice (“DOJ”).  This action was prompted by the potential merger of Duke Energy Corporation and Progress Energy, Inc. (see January 13, 2011 edition of the WER). 

On June 3, 2011, the United States House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Energy and Power, held a hearing on H.R. 909, A Roadmap for America’s Energy Future, sponsored by Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA).  While H.R. 909 includes provisions that address issues like the Outer Continental Shelf, oil shale, nuclear concerns, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (“ANWR”), and Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas regulations, much of the discussion during the hearing focused on the reverse auction proposal contained in the bill. 

On June 9, 2011, the Commission issued its order on rehearing in Docket Nos. EL00-66 and EL95-33 regarding whether the Commission should order refunds under section 206 of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”) to correct misallocations of Entergy System capacity costs (the “June 9 Order”).

On June 3, 2011, FERC issued an order (the “Order”) accepting and suspending PJM Interconnection L.L.C.’s (“PJM”) proposed revisions to its Open Access Transmission Tariff (“OATT”) and Reliability Assurance Agreement Among Load Serving Entities in the PJM Region (“Reliability Assurance Agreement”).  In its Order, the Commission accepted and suspended PJM’s proposed changes for a five month period, to be effective November 7, 2011, subject to refund, and to the outcome of a technical conference and a further order of the Commission.

On June 1, 2011 the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.’s (“Midwest ISO” or “MISO”) announced that dispatchable intermittent resources (“DIRs”) are fully available in the real-time energy market.  This change means wind resources are now able to participate in the real-time market like other generators. 

On Tuesday, May 31, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) headquarters in Washington DC experienced an outage after a reported failure of two underground transmission cables.  FERC’s systems, including online services, were shut down, and personnel were placed on administrative leave.

On May 24, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) dismissed a complaint stemming from the California energy crisis by relying on several grounds, including a federal “catchall” statute of limitation – perhaps the first time FERC has relied on this law to dismiss a complaint.

On May 19, 2011, FERC staff presented the Summer 2011 Energy Market and Reliability Assessment (the “Assessment”).   Overall, staff revealed that demand forecasts are largely the same as compared with Summer 2010, and generation and reserve margins for the season are projected to be sufficient.