On June 30, 2014, the Supreme Court declined to hear Kansas City Power & Light Co.’s appeal of a lower court’s affirmation of the Missouri Public Service Commission order denying the utility the right to recover FERC-approved transmission costs, estimated at $100 million. The costs are for delivering power 500 miles from a natural gas plant in the Mississippi Delta to western Missouri customers. The Missouri PSC approved the purchase power but concluded the $5 million yearly interstate transmission cost at FERC-approved rates wasn’t “just and reasonable” because the plant was only used to meet summer peak demand. However, KCP&L was paying for transmission access all year and passing that cost on to its customers. KCP&L argued the decision to disallow FERC-approved transmission costs violated the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which gives federal law jurisdiction over state law.
The impact of the ruling further supports the concept that FERC approval no longer provides certainty regarding cost recovery. Billions of dollars in interstate transmission costs may or may not be recoverable from customers. It is already a hot summer and things could really heat up to the extent other state utility commissions consider denying recovery of FERC-approved transmission costs related to the growing area of distantly-sited generation, especially the popular natural gas and wind generation.
And there is more… I find the most interesting thing about this case is the fact that the Missouri PSC approved the recovery of the cost of the generation facility in base rates, yet denied the cost to transmit the power from the approved facility.
Bonus: The Solicitor General explains why cert should be denied.