Triggering & Tailoring
What the Supreme Court said, and didn’t.
Justice Scalia saw the need for tailoring as proof that EPA’s Triggering Rule was mistaken.
Regulation & Policy
Enforcement Times Two
FERC and CFTC begin sharing information to target market manipulation in the energy industry.
Closer coordination between FERC and CFTC (and perhaps also with DOJ) will increase enforcement risk for energy industry traders.
Game Changers
State regulators address transformative forces.
In Fortnightly’s Regulators’ Roundtable, commissioners from Idaho, Illinois, and Minnesota consider transformative forces and the regulatory response.
A Year of Fear
Resuming progress after 2011’s uncertainty.
From the Fukushima disaster and its repercussions, to the raging battle over new EPA regulations, 2011 was one of the most volatile years on record for the electric power business. Will 2012 be better or worse than 2011? Cost factors make this a great time to invest, but overhanging uncertainties might bring another year of fear.
Bench Report: Top Ten Legal Decisions of 2010
2010 Law & Lawyers Report
1. Private Bargaining vs. Public Interest; 2. Negawatts = Megawatts?; 3. Smart Grid Skeptics; 4. Troubled Waters; 5. $1 Billion Down the Drain; 6. Feed-In Frenzy; 7. Spreading Downwind; 8. Violator Beware; 9. Greenhouse Two-Step; 10. SPP’s ‘Highway/Byway’ Plan.
Legal Battleground
2010 Law & Lawyers Report
The U.S. utility industry has never faced a more uncertain legal and regulatory landscape. From FERC demand-response pricing to state ratemaking disputes, legal trends and decisions are reshaping the power and gas market. The industry’s top legal minds provide strategic counsel. By definition, a battlefield is an ugly place. Conflict creates chaos, uncertainty and danger.
The Constellation Experience
Ring-fencing after the subprime meltdown.
When Électricité de France stepped in to buy Constellation Energy’s nuclear assets and help the company avoid bankruptcy, the Maryland Public Service Commission conditioned the sale on a set of ring-fencing provisions. The industry has been using such structures to protect ratepayers in complex and high-risk M&A transactions since the 1990s. The protection isn’t foolproof, however—and it can bring problematic regulatory trade-offs.
Every Last Penny
Transmission cost allocation, the worth of the grid, and the limits of ratemaking.
A look at the issues that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must address concerning allocation of costs for certain high-voltage transmission lines 500kV or greater, planned for the PJM region, in the “paper hearing” on remand from the 7th Circuit federal court decision that rejected a socialized, region-wide sharing of costs among all utilities and customers across the RTO footprint.
Summer of Discontent
Smart-grid planners feel the heat.
State utility regulators begin to question the benefits of smart grid technology, and customers take to the streets in public protests and demonstrations to oppose installation of smart meters.
FIT in the USA
Constitutional questions about state-mandated renewable tariffs.
Despite state efforts to follow the European model of state-mandated feed-in tariffs to promote renewable power, these actions won’t pass Constitutional muster. The Supremacy Clause makes a formidable legal barrier.