FERC Filings
MOTION TO INTERVENE AND PROTEST OF THE ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY ASSOCIATION -GridFlorida LLC, Florida Power & Light Co.,Florida Power Corporation,Tampa Electric Co.-Docket No. RT01-67-000
b. As presently composed, the Advisory Committee does not adequately balance stakeholder interests
While the Commission has repeatedly maintained that independence is the bedrock of RTO formation, GridFlorida’s proposed committee structure is dominated by transmission owners and utilities. Utilities can control up to seven of the 13 seats on the Advisory Committee, since one seat is allocated for each transmission owner, two for retail utility providers and two for non-IOUs selling at wholesale. This approach fails to ensure the balance of market participants needed to ensure independence, particularly with regard to neutrality on market policy and its impact on market outcomes. Before approving GridFlorida, the Commission should closely scrutinize the structure, makeup and voting procedures of the Advisory Committee to ensure that they do not allow undue influence by individual or classes of market participants.
The filing also needs to be clarified to clearly articulate the power and role of the Advisory Committee. Before granting its approval, the Commission should require the Applicants to answer the following questions: Can the GridFlorida Board disregard Advisory Committee decisions? Can the Advisory Committee review the actions of or the market rules? Can each sector of the Advisory Committee get equal access to the GridFlorida Board? Can GridFlorida disband or radically alter the makeup of the Advisory Committee? What veto rights will passive owners have? How will the critical decision-making responsibilities transition from the current transmission owners/Applicants to the Advisory Committee? These important questions need to be answered so that both the Commission and market participants can be confident that GridFlorida is accomplishing the goals set out in Order No. 2000. As currently described, EPSA does not believe that either the transmission tariff or market rules can developed in a fashion that avoids distortion of sound market policy nor fair treatment of transmission customers, particularly that of new entrants.