Chairman James Danly Statement
December 11, 2020
Docket No. ER21-104-000
The Commission’s order in this docket approves proposed revisions to Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s (Basin) formula rate and grants Basin’s request to implement those changes on a retroactive basis. I agree with the decision to approve the revisions, but I dissent from the decision to give those changes retroactive effect. As I explained in detail in my dissent in Sunflower, the approval of such a retroactive rate change exceeds our legal authority under the Federal Power Act and runs afoul of two related legal doctrines: the filed rate doctrine and the rule against retroactive ratemaking.[1]
For these reasons, I respectfully dissent in part.
[1] Sunflower Elec. Power Corp., 172 FERC ¶ 61,054 at P 5 (2020) (Sunflower).