The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released its FY 2011 budget proposal yesterday, with the Office of Electric Reliability (OER) garnering the largest increase among FERC's offices and divisions. The total FERC proposed budget request is $315.6 million, a $17.6 million increase over the FY 2010 budget.

The proposed increase for OER indicates that FERC plans to make reliability of the electric transmission grid—and enforcement of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Reliability Standards—a priority in 2011. Highlights from FERC's budget proposal pertaining to reliability include...