The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on October 1, 2025 finalized a final rule under Docket No. RM25-14 to sunset dozens of existing regulations affecting the electric and natural gas industries. This regulatory action was taken pursuant to Executive Order (EO) 14270, Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American Energy, issued on April 9, 2025, and is open for comment through November 20, 2025.
The executive order directed named federal energy and environmental agencies—including FERC—to adopt a sunset rule by September 30, 2025 that imposes automatic expiration dates on their existing and future regulations unless those rules are affirmatively justified through a public review process.
EO 14270
EO 14270 established a “zero-based” regulatory budgeting approach targeting agencies with broad regulatory authority over energy production. The order responded to concerns that outdated or overly complex regulations were inhibiting innovation and leaving the energy sector “trapped in the 1970s.” To address this, the order required covered agencies—including FERC, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Department of Energy (DOE), the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and others—to insert conditional sunset provisions into their regulations.
Under the framework, existing regulations must expire one year after the effective date of an agency’s sunset rule unless extended following a public comment period and agency determination that the regulation still serves the public good. New regulations must include a sunset date, typically no more than five years in the future.
FERC’s Sunset Rule
In response, FERC’s October 1 rule imposes a conditional sunset date on 53 existing regulations related to electricity and natural gas. The agency identified these rules as outdated, seldom used, or duplicative of other regulatory provisions. Some regulations are tied to statutory frameworks that have since been repealed or superseded, while others govern administrative processes—such as filing requirements—that are no longer relevant to current agency operations. The rule is set to take effect 45 days after its publication in the Federal Register, with the default sunset date occurring one year later unless the rule is reviewed and extended under the EO’s process.
A list of the more commonly known affected regulations, along with FERC’s rationale for their proposed phaseout, is provided in Table 1 below.
Opportunity for Comment
Alongside the final rule, FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) under Docket No. RM25-14 to allow for public comment. Under the NOPR procedure, if FERC receives “significant adverse comments” on any portion of the sunset rule by November 20, 2025, it will withdraw the affected portion and address it in a separate rulemaking. This process ensures that stakeholders have an opportunity to weigh in on the sunsetting of regulations that may still hold value or require modification.
Impact of Sunset Rule
The sunset rule does not sunset any of the more significant and substantive FERC regulations and instead takes a narrower approach by sunsetting regulations that are outdated, no longer needed, and duplicative. Although FERC stated that it does not anticipate significant public comments, the sunset rule provides an opportunity for interested parties to file comments on any portion of the sunset rule.
An affected portion of the sunset rule will be withdrawn if FERC deems a comment to be “adverse and significant,” for example, if it (1) opposes the rule and provides a reason sufficient to require a substantive response in a notice and comment process; (2) proposes a change or an addition to the rule, and it is apparent that the rule would be ineffective or unacceptable without incorporation of the change or addition; or (3) causes FERC to make a change (other than editorial) to the rule. This leaves open the possibility that the sunsetting of an identified regulation could be addressed in a separate proceeding.
Table 1: Prominent Regulations Affected by Sunset Rule
Final Rule to Promote Natural Gas Infrastructure Development
Separately, on October 7, 2025, FERC issued a final rule in Docket No. RM25-9 amending its regulations to remove Section 157.23 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) and a related cross-reference. Section 157.23 precluded the issuance of construction authorizations, under NGA sections 3 and 7(c), for new natural gas transportation, export, or import facilities while certain requests for rehearing were pending before FERC. FERC explained that removing this provision will help reduce construction delays, promote efficient energy development, and ensure the timely availability of natural gas infrastructure to support resource adequacy and reliability. The final rule takes effect November 10, 2025.
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