​At the urging of FERC Chairman Rich Glick and North American Electric Reliability Corporation President and CEO Jim Robb, the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) is convening a multi-meeting forum to identify solutions to the reliability challenges facing the nation’s natural gas system and bulk electric system.

In a joint letter dated July 29, 2022, Glick and Robb recommended that NAESB convene the forum, as outlined in one of the key recommendations from the FERC-NERC report on the February 2021 freeze in Texas and the South Central U.S. caused by Winter Storm Uri.


NAESB Forum Information

The meetings of this NAESB forum are open to the public. To participate, please register through the following hyperlink: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WWlA_fl5SOiq8HEBgPvEBA#/registration 

When registering, you will be asked to provide your name, company, phone number and email address, and instructions for participation will be provided to you in a separate email confirmation notice after you register.  All those that register for the meeting will be added to the NAESB Gas-Electric Harmonization Forum distribution list unless it is specifically requested otherwise.  If you received this notice and would like to be removed from the distribution list, please contact the NAESB office.  If you know of any colleagues that may have interest in attending this meeting or in following NAESB efforts in this area, please feel free to forward this invitation.  Prior to this meeting and any future meetings, participants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the NAESB Antitrust and Other Meeting Policies (http://www.naesb.org/misc/antitrust_guidance.doc) and be aware that the meetings will be transcribed/recorded and may be attended by members of the press.

NAESB Gas Electric Forum Work Plan

Key Recommendation 7 Directive:

“The time has come for a concerted effort among those who can address the natural gas-electric infrastructure interdependency problem to consider the topics set forth above [below], or other topics of their own choosing.”[1]

Forum Outcome Goals:

  • Concrete actions to increase reliability of the natural gas infrastructure system necessary to support [the] Bulk Electric System
  • Plans for implementing actions
  • Deadlines for implementing actions
  • Identifying entities responsible for implementing actions

Process Description

Meetings will be held via the Zoom platform on dates specified in the meeting schedule, and all meetings will be recorded: https://www.naesb.org/pdf4/geh_schedule_090722.docx

Participation in the meetings is open to all interested parties, and registration for each meeting is required

An opportunity to submit topic specific recommendations and comments prior to each meeting will be provided via an electronic survey, if appropriate, and all submissions will be made publicly available. A general agenda for each meeting specifying the topic(s) of discussion will be released two weeks prior to the meeting date, and all work papers and revisions to agendas will be posted at least three business days before each meeting

Participants will have a minimum of five business days to respond to requests for recommendations and comments, and all submissions will be due at least one week prior to each meeting.

Participants must identify with a NAESB Quadrant and Segment or as a non-voting observer when registering for meetings.  Any voting will be conducted utilizing the NAESB Balanced Voting Procedures and all votes will be made publicly available: https://www.naesb.org/pdf4/geh_balanced_voting_quadrant_segment_descriptions.doc

A meeting summary and any resulting documentation will be provided the week following the meeting.

Categories Identified by FERC and NERC Staff[2]

  1. Measures to improve gas-electric information sharing for improved system performance during extreme cold weather emergencies
  2. Measures to improve reliability of natural gas facilities during cold weather (freeze protection, electric supply)
  3. Measures to improve the ability of generators to obtain fuel during extreme cold weather events when natural gas heating load and natural gas-fire generators are both in high demand for natural gas, at the same time that natural gas production may have decreased

[2] See slide 10 of the August 30, 2022 FERC and NERC Presentation: https://www.naesb.org/pdf4/geh083022a1.pdf

Event Details


Date and Time
  • Friday, Oct 21, 2022 (10:00 AM EDT - 1:00 PM EDT)
Point of Contact

This page was last updated on October 19, 2022