On September 12, 2018, FERC announced the initiation of a joint inquiry with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) into a cold weather event that occurred in the Midwest and part of the South Central U.S. mid-January of this year. Specifically, on January 17, 2018, regional operators in the midwest and south central United States issued emergency appeals for electricity conservation after an atypical forecast in electricity demand due to unusually cold temperatures. As a result, there were reports of multiple forced generation outages, voltage deviations, and near-overloads during peak operations.
FERC and NERC will investigate the causes of and contributions to the cold weather event and will identify any appropriate recommendations for improving operations under similar conditions. FERC and NERC staff will collaborate with the Midwest Reliability Organization, ReliabilityFirst, SERC Reliability Corporation, and other relevant companies.