FERC Filings
EPSA's Request for Clarification or Rehearing on Reporting Requirement for Changes In Status for Public Utilities with Market-Based Rate Authority
Timing and Implementation of the Rule
1. The Commission should clarify that the rule requires only prospective reporting of triggering events after the effective date of the rule
The new rule requires that entities authorized to make sales at market-based rates must incorporate a reporting requirement in their market-based rate tariffs requiring them to report any material change in status within 30 days of the effective date of such change. The Commission added that “regardless of the date on which the seller amends its market-based rate tariff to include the reporting requirement, such reporting requirement will be considered part of the seller’s market-based rate tariff as of 30 days after the date of publication of this Final Rule in the Federal Register.”
EPSA seeks clarification that a seller would have to consider triggering events which occurred prior to the effective date of the rule only to the extent that those events impact a triggering event that occurs after the effective date of the rule. Market-based rate sellers, by the nature of the energy business environment, are in a constant process of attempting to optimize the performance of their assets either through purchase, sales of assets or engaging in beneficial contractual relationships. This process may have resulted in triggering events prior to the effective date of the rule that would not now require a separate change in status filing but that presumably must be considered to determine the effect of the current change on the characteristics underlying the grant of market based rate authority.
2. Consistent tariff filings are best facilitated by generic tariff language guidance from the Commission.
The final rule requires the filing of tariff changes by all market based rate sellers to reflect the reporting requirements established in the order. To facilitate the Commission’s objectives, sellers’ tariff language should uniformly reflect the reporting obligation. Therefore, the following tariff language is suggested for the Commission to endorse for market-based rate sellers to use in their tariffs when implementing the rule:
{Insert name of market based seller} will timely report to the Commission any change in status that would reflect a departure from the characteristics the Commission relied upon in granting market-based rate authority. A change in status includes, but is not limited to, each of the following: (i) ownership or control of generation or transmission facilities or inputs to electric power production other than fuel supplies, or (ii) affiliation with any entity not disclosed in the application for market-based rate authority that owns or controls generation or transmission facilities or inputs to electric power production, or affiliation with any entity that has a franchised service area. Any change in status must be filed no later than 30 days after the change in status occurs.
Therefore, EPSA urges the Commission to adopt generic tariff language that all entities with market-based rate tariffs can then file, when appropriate, to implement the requirements of this rule.