On October 17, 2019, FERC issued two separate orders accepting in part PJM Interconnection L.L.C.’s (“PJM”), and Southwest Power Pool, Inc.’s (“SPP”) proposals to comply with FERC’s orders addressing energy storage resources’ (“ESR”) participation in Regional Transmission Organization (“RTO”)-operated markets, subject to further compliance (see February 20, 2018 edition of the WER; April 10, 2019 edition of the WER; and May 22, 2019 edition of the WER for more background and context on…

On October 4, 2019, FERC staff issued a report for users, operators, and owners of the bulk-power system to increase compliance with mandatory Critical Infrastructure Protection (“CIP”) standards and improve cybersecurity for the nation’s electric grid. In the report, FERC staff recommended, among other things, that entities: verify employees’ recurring authorizations for using removable media; ensure all employees and third-party contractors complete required trainings and properly maintain training records; consider all generation assets when categorizing…

On September 30, 2019, FERC accepted in part and rejected in part, the California Independent System Operator’s (“CAISO”) July 2, 2019 proposed revisions (“July 2 Filing”)  to its open access transmission tariff (“Tariff”) to include three unrelated mitigation measures designed to facilitate the participation of fast-ramping hydroelectric resources in the western energy imbalance market (“EIM”). FERC accepted two aspects of CAISO’s proposal related to the mitigation timing (the “Mitigation Timing” proposal and a hydro default…

On September 19, 2019, one Independent and four Democratic U.S. Senators wrote a letter to FERC asking for an explanation of three actions the Senators believed showed an “apparent erosion” of the “vital role” FERC plays in preventing fraud and manipulation in U.S. energy markets and financial markets: (1) the decline in FERC-initiated civil penalty actions and the abrupt termination of non-public investigations without explanation; (2) the elimination of the Division of Energy Market Oversight…

On September 18, 2019, the First Circuit Court of Appeals (“First Circuit”) affirmed the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts’s (“District Court”) ruling that dismissed twelve New England retail electricity customers’ (“Plaintiffs”) federal antitrust and state-law claims against Eversource Energy and Avangrid, Inc (“Defendants”).  Initially, Plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in District Court, claiming Defendants violated section 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2, as well as various state antitrust and consumer-protection…

On September 6, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) dismissed the City of Oberlin, Ohio’s and the Coalition to Reroute Nexus’s (collectively, “Petitioners”) request to vacate FERC’s authorization for Nexus Gas Transmission, LLC (“Nexus”) to: (1) construct and operate an interstate natural gas pipeline through parts of Ohio and Michigan; and (2) use eminent domain to acquire any necessary rights of way to complete the project (see…