On October 21, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) conditionally approved the move of Duke Energy Ohio, Inc. and Duke Energy Kentucky, Inc (collectively “Duke”) from the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc. (“Midwest ISO”) to PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (“PJM”).

On Monday, October 18, 2010, Northeast Utilities (“NU”) and NSTAR announced their companies’ Boards of Trustees unanimously approved a merger agreement for a large utility valued at $17.5 billion.  This newly-formed utility will be known as Northeast Utilities. 

On October 21, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) clarified how California may promote new generation resources in a way that does not contradict federal laws (the “October 21 Clarification”).  The Commission also denied the California Public Utilities Commission’s (“CPUC”) request for rehearing.

On October 21, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) released the winter 2010-2011 Energy Market Assessment (the “assessment”) and presented the results at FERC’s October public meeting.

On October 8, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) issued an order (the “Order”) modifying the energy price cap on spot market sales in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (“WECC”) to $750/MWh. 

On the heels of receiving dozens of submissions in response to the Midwest Independent System Operator, Inc.’s (“MISO”) “MVP” cost allocation filing, (see July 23, 2010 edition of the WER) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) this week received well over one hundred submissions in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) on transmission planning and cost allocation (see June 18, 2010 edition of the WER). Interestingly, FERC also issued a Notice indicating that reply comments in the NOPR docket would not be due until November 12, 2010, which indicates that agency action on the NOPR is highly unlikely before the end of the year.

On September 17, 2010, FERC accepted proposed revisions to PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (“PJM”) Operating Agreement, and Attachment K to their open access transmission tariff (“Tariff”).  The changes represented a “temporary solution” to prevent alleged manipulation in PJM’s energy markets.  The September filings were preceded by a lengthy history, as summarized below.

On September 23, 2010, FERC settled with RRI Energy, Inc. and RRI Energy Wholesale Generation LLC (collectively “RRI”) over open access transportation violations, and RRI agreed to pay a civil penalty of $750,000. The settlement concluded an investigation by FERC Enforcement that identified potential violations from January 2000 to March 2008.