Commissioner James Danly Statement
March 1, 2023
Docket Nos. ER22-983-000, ER22-983-001
I concur with this order on the compliance filing[1] submitted by ISO New England Inc. (ISO-NE) and New England Power Pool Participants Committee (NEPOOL), in response to Order No. 2222.[2] I dissented from Order No. 2222 because I disagreed that the Commission should exercise jurisdiction over the participation of Distributed Energy Resources in markets administered by Regional Transmission Organizations or Independent System Operators (collectively, RTOs).[3] My concern was that the Commission should not be in the business of micro-managing RTO activities that primarily affect the distribution system which is itself primarily within the jurisdiction of the states.
ISO-NE and NEPOOL made a good faith effort to comply with Order No. 2222. While I continue to disagree with Order No. 2222 itself, I agree that ISO-NE and NEPOOL failed to fully comply with its scores of dictates. I do not envy ISO-NE and NEPOOL the compliance task we imposed upon them. One hundred percent compliance probably is impossible in a first, or perhaps even second, attempt. We shall see.
This underscores my original concern about the Commission’s intrusive interference into the administration of RTO markets and distribution-level systems. Order No. 2222 not only took over many state powers but also—as confirmed today—permits RTOs extremely limited discretion to do anything other than step in line with the Commission’s directives for how every little thing should work.
For these reasons, I respectfully concur.
[1] ISO New England Inc., et al., 182 FERC ¶ 61,137 (2023).
[2] Participation of Distributed Energy Resource Aggregations in Markets Operated by Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators, Order No. 2222, 172 FERC ¶ 61,247 (2020), order on reh’g, Order No. 2222-A, 174 FERC ¶ 61,197, order on reh’g, Order No. 2222-B, 175 FERC ¶ 61,227 (2021).
[3] Participation of Distributed Energy Resource Aggregations in Markets Operated by Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators, Order No. 2222, 172 FERC ¶ 61,247 (2020) (Danly, Comm’r, dissenting); see also Participation of Distributed Energy Resource Aggregations in Markets Operated by Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators, Order No. 2222-A, 174 FERC ¶ 61,197 (2021) (Danly, Comm’r, dissenting).