Coronavirus Update
On April 2, 2020, Chairman Chatterjee announced the creation of a Standards of Conduct Task Force News Release. If regulated entities have emergency-related concerns, please contact the SOC Task Force at SOC-TaskForce@FERC.gov as staff is available to provide informal staff guidance. The SOC Task Force has been directed to process emergency-related SOC requests expeditiously. After filing a SOC waiver request using normal filing procedures, please email a copy to SOC-TaskForce@FERC.gov to ensure expeditious processing. The Chairman also confirmed that the Coronavirus Pandemic qualifies as an emergency under section 358.7(g)(2) of the Commission’s regulations.
The Standards of Conduct for Transmission Providers Include Three Primary Rules
- The "independent functioning rule," which requires transmission function and marketing function employees to operate independently of each other.
- The "no-conduit rule," which prohibits passing non-public transmission function information to marketing function employees.
- The "transparency rule," which imposes posting requirements to help detect any instances of undue preference due to the improper disclosure of non-public transmission function information.
Related Developments
On March 19, 2015, FERC issued Order No. 807 amending its regulations to waive the Open Access Transmission Tariff, Open Access Same-Time Information System, and Standards of Conduct requirements, under certain conditions, for the ownership, control or operation of Interconnection Customer’s Interconnection Facilities.
On November 15, 2013, FERC issued Order No. 787 amending its regulations to provide explicit authority to interstate natural gas pipelines and public utilities that own, operate, or control facilities used for the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce to share non-public, operational information with each other for the purpose of promoting reliable service or operational planning on either the public utility's or pipeline's system. As a protection against the disclosure of non-public, operational information not covered by FERC's Standards of Conduct, Order No. 787 also adopted a “no-conduit rule” that prohibits subsequent disclosure of information received under the rule to a third party or the transmission operator's marketing function employees.