Senate Votes in Favor of Energy Bill, Tumultuous Conference Awaits

Posted on: July 6, 2005 By: Bracewell LLP
In what some have described as the easy first step down what will surely be a long and difficult road, on June 28, 2005, the Senate voted 85-12 to pass its version of the energy bill (H.R. 6), which has an estimated price tag of up to $35 billion. The Senate's version would benefit the power industry in several key ways, but it also addresses energy conservation and development of clean energy alternatives. Despite drawing praise from President Bush for its bipartisan support, the bill still faces an iffy future in a Senate-House conference that is sure to be contentious. There are...
Tags: 
Reliability
Transmission
National Energy Law
Air Quality/Climate Change
Renewable Energy
EPAct 2005
Natural Gas
LNG

FERC Provides More Guidance on Status Changes that Power Sellers with Market-Pricing Authority Must Report

Posted on: July 5, 2005 By: Bracewell LLP
FERC relented in June to market participants' demands and provided additional examples of those types of changes in status that, if not reported to the agency, could cause a power seller to forfeit its market-pricing authority. The resulting message was a classic example of a regulator seeking to point those it regulates in a salutary direction, while at the same time striving mightily not to fence itself in through overly descriptive examples of applicable conduct. FERC provided several illustrations of the types of contracts and events that would and would not trigger the reporting...
Tags: 
FERC
National Energy Law
Natural Gas

FERC Takes a Second Look at the Independent Ownership and Operation of Power Transmission Systems

Posted on: June 29, 2005 By: Bracewell LLP
Hoping to encourage the formation of independent transmission companies ("ITC"), FERC adopted in June a new Policy Statement on the ownership of ITCs. The Policy Statement addresses the types of ownership structures that are eligible for ITC status. The Policy Statement clarifies that FERC will consider ITC proposals from applicants in which market participants have passive minority equity interests, based on FERC's evaluation of certain criteria. Under the Policy Statement, FERC will consider proposals involving passive participation of up to 49 percent ownership by a single market...
Tags: 
Transmission
FERC
National Energy Law

FERC Proposes Changes to Accounting and Financial Reporting Rules to Gain Further Insight into RTO Operations

Posted on: June 29, 2005 By: Bracewell LLP
Responding to the increasingly controversial issue of escalating RTO and ISO operating costs, FERC has proposed a new rule that would change its accounting and financial reporting requirements for public utilities, including independent system operators and regional transmission organizations (collectively "RTOs") that file financial reports with FERC. Specifically, FERC is seeking more detailed information about regional transmission and RTO market operation assets, RTO revenues, and other market-related expenses. FERC states it is proposing the rulemaking to accommodate the industry...
Tags: 
Organized Markets
FERC
National Energy Law

FERC Administrative Law Judge Issues Initial Decision Largely Adopting ISO-New England Proposal for Locational ICAP

Posted on: June 29, 2005 By: Bracewell LLP
The contentious battle over capacity markets in New England moved a step closer to conclusion when a FERC judge recently upheld for the most part the details of ISO-New England's locational ICAP ("LICAP") proposal. See UPDATE (09/30/2002). LICAP would replace the simpler ICAP regime that allowed load-servers to satisfy their ICAP obligations without regard to whether the capacity was actually deliverable where needed. The judge found that use of LICAP and demand curves for capacity pricing was the only proposed methodology that would appropriately compensate generators needed for reliability...
Tags: 
Organized Markets
Transmission
National Energy Law

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