FERC Filings
MOTION OF EPSA FOR LEAVE TO INTERVENE, PROTEST AND CONSOLIDATE RELATED PROCEEDINGS FOR HEARING re: ENTERGY SERVICES, INC., EWO MARKETING, LP, ENTERGY POWER, INC.
PROTEST
EPSA has numerous concerns about these two additional PPAs filed by Entergy, as raised in our April 21 protest to the last round of Entergy affiliate PPAs, and now heightened with this third round of affiliate PPAs. As detailed in both previous EPSA protests, Entergy has failed to demonstrate that the proposed wholesale power purchase agreements between Entergy affiliates satisfy the just and reasonable standard of Section 205 of the Federal Power Act. Entergy correctly indicates in its applications that, under ESI’s market-based rate tariff, sales to affiliates with a franchised service territory must receive prior approval by the Commission in a Section 205 proceeding. The reason for this condition is to protect customers of Entergy Operating Companies from the absence of an arms-length relationship between affiliates and the potential for anticompetitive conduct. With this in mind, the review of the solicitation of the PPAs in question must be sufficiently rigorous to ensure that the selection was transparent, fair and non-discriminatory, and that the PPAs not subject to an RFP process at all are just and reasonable.
The Commission has itself acknowledged the deficiency of Entergy’s PPA Applications, requesting that Entergy provide additional data on numerous aspects of the agreements and the procurement process surrounding them. According to a May 2, 2003, letter sent to Entergy by FERC’s Division of Tariffs and Market Development – South, the Commission requires “sufficient information” to process all four PPA filings. The attendant data requests lays out 25 detailed questions on all aspects of the filing and the 2002 Fall RFP process. These questions request data on many of EPSA’s core concerns surrounding these agreements. Therefore, EPSA here reiterates those concerns raised in previous protests filed with the Commission. Should the Commission receive sufficient data to begin processing the agreements, EPSA urges the Commission to consolidate the proceedings for consideration in order to adequately address the transparency and fairness of the RFP process, its use by Entergy as a barometer by which to judge the comparability of “non-RFP” agreements, and the aggregate impact of the numerous PPAs that were signed as a result of a single RFP process.