The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dismissed a class action lawsuit claiming a California utility was liable for blackouts that were allegedly caused by inadequate electric system maintenance....more
The DC Circuit has affirmed FERC’s application of the “cost causation” principle to prevent a public utility (the Utility) from allocating costs for facilities to customers that did not benefit from the facilities. The...more
FERC recently held a Staff-led technical conference to discuss whether, and if so, how, the Commission should require additional financial assurance mechanisms in the licenses and other authorizations it issues for...more
On March 24, FERC granted a public utility’s petition for declaratory order regarding the treatment of a master license agreement for communications equipment under the public utility’s previously approved revenue sharing...more
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) filed its 2022 NERC Standards Report, Status and Timetable for Addressing Regulatory Directives summarizing the progress made and plans for addressing the reliability...more
FERC issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR) in Docket No. RM21-17, seeking comment on the potential need for reform of Commission regulations necessary to improve regional transmission planning and cost...more
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued three rules on June 19 that may give utilities new reasons to consider investing in certain plant modifications and reassessing the projected lifespans of their facilities....more
FERC Staff issued a report on March 29 on Commission-led critical infrastructure protection (CIP) reliability audits completed for fiscal years 2016 through 2018. The report provides lessons learned from those audits, as well...more