Docket No. EL26-62-000
We concur with today’s order, including the order’s determination that “Basin Electric has demonstrated that the requested [Hypothetical Capital Structure I]ncentive is tailored to the risks and challenges faced by the Projects.”1
We write separately to highlight the evidence that Basin Electric provided to support its requested 50% debt and 50% equity capital structure. Specifically, Basin Electric’s application included both a project-level credit rating by Moody’s and testimony from an independent expert as to why the requested debt/equity ratio is needed for these projects.
The Commission must evaluate each request for transmission rate incentives on its merits, and each project and its sponsors have different needs.2 Therefore, the appropriate evidentiary support may vary depending on the type of entity and duration of the incentive. Applicants who better substantiate their filings with evidence, as Basin Electric has done here, both support their request and provide a basis for the Commission to make reasoned decisions that are justified and adequately supported by the record.3 The support for the requested incentive provided here is timely,4 because it helps the Commission balance affordability concerns, the need for transparency, and the imperative that we provide certainty to get needed energy infrastructure built.
For these reasons, we respectfully concur.
- 1Basin Elec. Power Coop., 196 FERC ¶ 61,036, at P 27 (2026).
- 2Promoting Transmission Inv. Through Pricing Reform, Order No. 679, 116 FERC ¶ 61,057, at P 132, order on reh’g, Order No. 679-A, 117 FERC ¶ 61,345, at P 93 (2006).
- 3We note that while Basin Electric’s expert witness stated that there would be incremental downward pressure on Basin Electric’s company-wide credit rating, nevertheless, it would have been helpful if Basin Electric had provided more support for how the specific proposed hypothetical capital structure for the projects here would affect Basin Electric’s consolidated credit rating.
- 4See, e.g., Kammer Juniata Transmission, LLC, 196 FERC ¶ 61,015 (2026) (Rosner, Comm’r, concurring); id. (Chang, Comm’r, dissenting, in part).