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EPSA Urges Expeditious Action From FERC to Reaffirm Station Power Policy

Any material change in the Commission's station power policy could significantly disrupt the Nation's wholesale power markets, undermine the Commission's ongoing efforts to promote competition and prevent undue discrimination, and prevent customers from gaining access to lower cost sources of generation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA), along with Dynegy Moss Landing, LLC, the Independent Energy Producers Association and the Western Power Trading Forum, today filed a joint motion with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) for expeditious action on remand from the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit) regarding FERC's longstanding "station power" policies. The court vacated and remanded to the Commission its orders regarding the treatment of station power in California as administered by the Independent System Operator Corp. (CAISO). "Station power" refers to electricity consumed on-site for the generator's own use (e.g., to operate heating, lighting, air-conditioning and office equipment).

EPSA's joint motion urges FERC to act expeditiously to re-affirm its longstanding policies by providing a more comprehensive explanation for those policies: "In particular, the Commission should take this opportunity to set out clearly the basis for the Commission's jurisdiction to establish the netting interval used to determine whether a generator has self-supplied station power, and to explain in detail why state authority to regulate retail rates does not extend to regulating the practice of generators' self-supplying station power."

The joint motion said, "The Commission's station power policy is a matter of great importance to power markets across the Nation. It is for this reason that EPSA, the national trade association for competitive power suppliers, as well as IEP and WPTF, regional trade associations representing suppliers in the CAISO, are joining with Moss Landing, which filed the complaint that initiated these proceedings, to file this Motion. Any material change in the Commission's station power policy could significantly disrupt the Nation's wholesale power markets, undermine the Commission's ongoing efforts to promote competition and prevent undue discrimination, and prevent customers from gaining access to lower cost sources of generation."

Noting that other parties may be interested in commenting on the joint submission, the motion requests that FERC extend the time period for answers from 15 days to 30 days, allowing all parties the opportunity to weigh in on the important issues raised in the proceeding. The motion states, "The remand provides an opportunity for the Commission to reaffirm nearly a decade's worth of station power precedent through which the Commission has adopted sound policies that have prevented undue discrimination in favor of vertically-integrated utilities and against competitive generators, including Movants and (in the case of EPSA, IEP, and WPTF) their members. A clear and detailed explanation of the Commission's policy will put an end to unfortunate and unduly discriminatory practices, and ward off unnecessary further litigation."

CONTACT: JOHN SHELK
(202) 349-0154or 703-472-8660

EPSA is the national trade association representing competitive power suppliers, including generators and marketers. These suppliers, who account for nearly 40 percent of the installed generating capacity in the United States, provide reliable and competitively priced electricity from environmentally responsible facilities serving global power markets. EPSA seeks to bring the benefits of competition to all power customers.