The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued an order with major implications for sellers with market-based rate (MBR) authority. Issued at the FERC’s meeting on September 22, 2022, the order provides notice to over a hundred MBR sellers listed in the order who have to date failed to comply with Order No. 860 that they are required to submit baseline submissions within 15 days, i.e., by Friday, October 7, 2022, or have their MBR authority revoked.1
As detailed in a previous DWT blog post, the FERC implemented a new relational database system for rate and ownership information about electric MBR sellers in the Order No. 860 series of orders. Under the new system, relevant information for the market power analysis is incorporated into the FERC’s relational database (i.e., a database maintained by the FERC in which multiple tables of MBR data submitted by MBR sellers affiliated through common upstream ownership relate to one another via unique identifiers). However, relational database submissions do not replace filings, e.g., MBR applications, that are required to be made through the FERC’s eLibrary system.
Order No. 860 required all entities authorized by the FERC to sell energy, capacity or ancillary services under section 205 of the Federal Power Act to submit baseline filings to FERC’s relational database by February 1, 2022.2 This past summer, the FERC began contacting MBR sellers that had not submitted the required baseline filing and reminded them of their regulatory responsibilities under Order Nos. 860 and 860-A. However, to date, dozens of MBR sellers have not made baseline submissions, precipitating the FERC’s order.
DWT has assisted clients with their required baseline submissions since the issuance of Order No. 860 and has the expertise to help navigate even the most complex relational database issues. Please feel free to reach out to our Energy & Environmental team for further information.
FOOTNOTES
1 Data Collection for Analytics and Surveillance and Mkt.-Based Rate Purposes, 180 FERC ¶ 61,170 (2022) (Order on Intent to Revoke Market-Based Rate Authority).
2 Data Collection for Analytics and Surveillance and Mkt.-Based Rate Purposes, Notice of Extension of Time, Docket No. RM16-17-000 (Oct. 22, 2021).
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