FERC Filings
MOTION FOR LEAVE TO INTERVENE AND PROTEST Re: NYISO
I. THE NYISO HAS NOT DEMONSTRATED THAT “EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES” EXIST AND HAS NOT COLLECTED AMPLE INPUT FROM NEW YORK STAKEHOLDERS
The Commission should reject the Penalty Provision filing because the NYISO has failed to provide evidence that “exigent circumstances” indeed exist, thus justifying the Board’s circumstantial decision to exclude New York stakeholders from investigating the merits of such an effectively poisoning plague on the NYISO-administered markets. The NYISO Board concluded that it had the right to make the filing due to “exigent circumstances,” asserting that “there is a material risk that prices in the NYISO-administered markets could be tainted by abuses of market power during at least some intervals in the high load periods of this summer.” The NYISO has failed to show conclusive evidence that this is indeed true. Clearly, a higher standard than “might” or “could” should be required to support a request for expedited treatment or to show exigent circumstances.
In its transmittal letter dated July 2, 2001, the NYISO states that the Penalties Provision filing was made per the direction of its independent Board under Section 19.01 of the ISO Agreement. Yet, the NYISO filed the Penalty Provisions without the concurrence of the NYISO’s Management Committee – or more significantly, was made without the concurrence of the NYISO stakeholders. On July 12, 2001, however, the NYISO Management Committee failed to approve the Penalty Provisions as voted on at the NYISO’s July 12th meeting. Therefore, without proof of exigent circumstances and given the disapproval of New York’s Market Participants, the Commission should reject the NYISO’s Penalty Provisions as filed.
The NYISO claims that the Penalty Provisions do not make any substantive changes to the market mitigation thresholds or other substantive provision of the Market Mitigation Measures (MMM). The NYISO is mistaken. Substantive changes to the MMM will absolutely have considerable effects on market participants and their business decisions in the New York markets. The Commission must therefore require the NYISO to gather the proper input and allow participants ample time to evaluate and comment on the proposal.