On February 18, 2021, FERC took action in a multi-year dispute over the PJM Interconnection’s capacity market pricing rule known as the Minimum Offer Price Rule (or, “MOPR”) by vacating a single troublesome footnote from its last order, making way for PJM to move ahead with its annual capacity auction after years of delay. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit will soon take up a host of appeals of FERC’s decisions on…

On January 22, 2021, two Washington state irrigation districts, Quincy-Columbia Basin Irrigation District and East Columbia Basin Irrigation District (the “Districts”), filed a Petition for Declaratory Order (“Petition”) requesting that FERC find that Federal Power Act (“FPA”) section 211A does not grant FERC jurisdiction over an unregulated transmitting utility solely as a result of the utility establishing different transmission rates by customer class or by contract.…

On February 1, 2021, FERC Chairman Richard Glick announced the appointments of Pamela Quinlan as Acting Chief of Staff and Matt Christiansen as General Counsel.…

On January 19, 2021, FERC issued a Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”) seeking comments on the appropriate accounting and reporting treatment for certain renewable energy assets and for the purchase, generation and use of renewable energy credits (“REC”). Specifically, FERC requested input on the potential creation of new, non-hydro renewable technology accounts within the Uniform System of Accounts (“USofA”), the potential reporting requirements for such accounts, and how the creation of such accounts may impact formula…

On January 21, 2021, President Biden named Richard Glick as the new FERC Chairman. Chairman Glick joined FERC as a Commissioner in 2017. He previously served as general counsel to the Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and as Vice President of Government Affairs for Iberdrola’s renewable energy, electric and gas utility, and natural gas storage businesses in the United States. In a press release, Chairman Glick stated: “I am honored that…

On January 19, 2021 FERC issued an order on the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (“NERC”) compliance filings submitted pursuant to the Commission’s January 2020 order on NERC’s five-year performance assessment. FERC’s January 19 order approved NERC’s proposed modifications to its Rules of Procedure regarding: (1) Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (“E-ISAC”); (2) Sanction Guidelines; and (3) Registration and Certification. FERC also accepted NERC’s description of its Reliability Guidelines process, its explanation on E-ISAC…