Federal Court Delays Mandate Overturning FERC Order 745
Posted on Oct 22, 2014 in Litigation, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Federal Court Delays Mandate Overturning FERC Order 745
The federal court that recently overturned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) controversial Order 745, which required consumers be paid for using less power during high-demand periods, has granted FERC’s petition for a stay. The federal court said it would delay its mandate until December 16. During the stay, FERC could file a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme...
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to EPA’s Authority
Posted on Oct 9, 2014 in Environmental, Litigation, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to EPA’s Authority
On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court denied an electric utility group’s challenge to the emissions standards for ozone pollution of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Utility Air Regulatory Group filed a petition in April claiming that the July 2013 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding the EPA’s 2008 National Ambient Air Quality...
North Dakota Coop Vies for Territory
Posted on Oct 7, 2014 in Grid & Infrastructure, Litigation, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on North Dakota Coop Vies for Territory
The North Dakota Public Service Commission has ruled in favor of Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU) in a territorial dispute with Capital Electric Cooperative (CEC) over which company should provide service to an industrial customer building a plant in McKenzie, North Dakota. MDU and CEC divide territory between themselves under a service area agreement, but the agreement did not cover...
Federal Court Sides with Coops over FERC’s Demand Response Request
Posted on Oct 1, 2014 in Legislative & Politics, Litigation, Rates, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Federal Court Sides with Coops over FERC’s Demand Response Request
A federal court rejected a request from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to review its decision against a FERC demand response order. FERC’s Order 745 issued in 2011 required that demand response participants in organized markets be compensated at full retail market price when they refrained from using electricity. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association...
Texas Coop Files Suit Over Interpretation of Purchase Agreement
Posted on Sep 26, 2014 in Litigation, Rates | Comments Off on Texas Coop Files Suit Over Interpretation of Purchase Agreement
Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. filed suit against San Miguel Electric Cooperative, Inc. in Texas federal court on Thursday seeking interpretation of a power purchase agreement between the parties. Under the agreement, Brazos purchases electricity from San Miguel’s 400-megawatt lignite-fired generating plant and associated mining facilities in Christine, Texas. The dispute...
Court Denies Review of FERC Demand Response Rule
Posted on Sep 19, 2014 in Energy Savings Programs, Litigation, Rates, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Court Denies Review of FERC Demand Response Rule
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will not review en banc a three-judge panel ruling that rejected the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s rulemaking on demand response compensation. The panel had found that Order No. 745 violates the Federal Power Act by impinging upon state jurisdiction over retail rates. Please click here for more...
Court Strikes Down New Jersey Power Plant Subsidy Program
Posted on Sep 15, 2014 in Grid & Infrastructure, Litigation, Project Development, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Court Strikes Down New Jersey Power Plant Subsidy Program
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has determined that New Jersey’s Long-Term Capacity Agreement Pilot Program impinges on the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over wholesale sales of capacity in interstate commerce. The ruling is the latest in a string of similar cases in which state subsidy programs have been struck down on jurisdictional...
Fee Penalties Imposed for Frivolous Clean Air Act Claim
Posted on Sep 11, 2014 in Environmental, Litigation | Comments Off on Fee Penalties Imposed for Frivolous Clean Air Act Claim
The Sierra Club will be forced to pay $6.4 million in attorneys’ fees for what a Texas federal court has deemed a “frivolous” Clean Air Act citizen suit. The ruling represents a win for defendant utilities and may help discourage environmental groups from bringing future unmeritorious lawsuits. For more information, click here. (Subscription required)
North Carolina Coop Entitled to Trial Over Condemnation
Posted on Sep 9, 2014 in Grid & Infrastructure, Land Use, Litigation | Comments Off on North Carolina Coop Entitled to Trial Over Condemnation
North Carolina’s Rutherford Electric Membership Corporation will get another chance in court to condemn certain land on which it wishes to run transmission lines. Landowner Tim Sweeney, a Cary, North Carolina, video game developer, challenged the condemnation last spring, and the Superior Court dismissed Rutherford’s condemnation petition. The North Carolina Court of Appeals has now...
Coops Challenge FERC’s New ROE Calculation
Posted on Aug 18, 2014 in Financing, Litigation, Rates, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Coops Challenge FERC’s New ROE Calculation
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has signaled that it intends to change the methodology with which it calculates utilities’ return on equity (ROE), eliciting concern from the electric cooperative community. In a June 19 order involving New Hampshire Electric Cooperative, FERC used a new “two-step” method to calculate the ROE for oil and gas pipelines, and the commission has...
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