These are summaries of orders voted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at its November 16 public meeting. The summaries are produced by FERC’s Office of External Affairs and are intended to provide only a general synopsis of the orders. These summaries are not intended as a substitute for the Commission’s official orders. To determine the specific actions and the Commission’s reasoning, please consult the individual orders when they are posted to FERC’s eLibrary found at www.ferc.gov.
E-1 | Black Hills Colorado Electric, LLC, Docket Nos. ER22-2185-001 and ER22-2185-000
Order Approving Settlement
The order approves an uncontested settlement agreement addressing Black Hills Colorado Electric, LLC’s proposed tariff revisions to transition from a stated transmission rate to a forward-looking transmission formula rate for transmission service.
E-2 | Wabash Valley Power Association, Inc., Docket No. ER20-1041-003
Order Establishing Additional Briefing Procedures
The order follows the issuance of an Initial Decision on January 28, 2022, involving Wabash Valley Power Association, Inc.’s proposed, unexecuted agreement for early termination of two wholesale power supply contracts between Wabash (as seller) and Tipmont Rural Electric Membership Cooperative (as buyer). The order establishes additional briefing procedures to address questions related to the early termination. Responses to these questions will supplement the existing record.
E-4 | Louisville Gas and Electric Company, Docket No. ER23-2656-000, et al.
Order on Compliance Filing and Transition Mechanism Agreements
The order accepts, subject to an additional compliance filing, the Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company (LG&E and KU) compliance filing of Rate Schedule No. 525 (RS 525) reinstituting the depancaking provisions of Rate Schedule No. 402 effective March 17, 2021, as required by the Commission’s May 18, 2023 order reversing its prior acceptance of a proposal to remove rate depancaking related to the 1998 merger between LG&E and KU, following a remand by the D.C. Circuit (Remand Order). The order also accepts KU’s certificate of concurrence for RS 525, effective March 17, 2021. Consistent with the Remand Order, the order also rejects the Transition Mechanism Agreements (TMAs) and certificates of concurrence for the TMAs as moot, effective March 17, 2021; requires LG&E and KU to make any necessary refunds for the time that the TMAs were in effect; and dismisses the settlement concerning the TMAs as moot.
E-5 | Louisville Gas and Electric Company, Docket Nos. EC98-2-006 and ER18-2162-005
Order Addressing Arguments Raised on Rehearing
The order addresses the Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company (LG&E and KU) request for rehearing of the Commission’s May 18, 2023, order reversing its prior acceptance of a proposal to remove rate depancaking related to the 1998 merger between LG&E and KU, following a remand by the D.C. Circuit (Remand Order). The order sustains the result of Remand Order.
E-6 | Horus West Virginia I, LLC, Docket Nos. ER23-2893-000 and TS23-8-000
Order Granting Request for Waivers
The order grants Horus West Virginia I, LLC’s request for temporary waiver of the Commission’s requirements to file an Open Access Transmission Tariff, to establish and maintain an Open Access Same-Time Information System (OASIS) and to comply with the Commission’s Standards of Conduct. Its interconnection facilities qualify as limited and discrete because they are limited facilities that are only used to support the interconnection of its generating facility, and its transmission facilities are operated by Potomac Edison and PJM, not Horus West Virginia. Moreover, Horus West Virginia states that it will ensure that any employees with access to non-public transmission information prior to the transfer of the facilities will be trained in, and will observe, the Standards of Conduct requirements, and that the market function employees of its affiliates will not have access to or be provided any non-public information pertaining to the facilities.
E-7 | EverBright, LLC, Docket No. EL24-2-000
Order Granting Petition for Declaratory Order
On October 3, 2023, EverBright, LLC filed a petition for declaratory order, requesting waiver of certain Qualifying Facility (QF) filing requirements under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies of 1978 (PURPA) for separately interconnected, residential solar PV systems under 35 kW. The order grants EverBright’s request for waiver of the Commission’s QF certification filing requirement for such solar PV systems that may aggregate with affiliated solar QFs to over 1 MW within a one-mile radius and thus may exceed the 1 MW exemption from the QF certification filing requirement. Additionally, for facilities that are 35 kW or larger that would still have to certify as QFs, the order grants waiver of Form No. 556’s Item 8a so as not to be required to list certain affiliated facilities.
E-8 | The Carlyle Group Inc., Docket No. EL23-86-000
Order Granting in Part, and Denying in Part, Petition for Declaratory Order
The order grants The Carlyle Group Inc. and NineDot Energy, LLC’s request for an individual exemption from certain books and records requirements under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 2005, but denies both their request for blanket authorization from the requirements of Federal Power Act section 203(a)(2) and their request for clarification that the revenues associated with the activities described in the petition will not be treated as “public-utility company revenues” under the single-state holding company waiver in 18 C.F.R. § 366.3(c)(1).
E-9 | Duke Energy Progress, LLC, Docket No. ER22-682-004
Order Approving Settlement
The order approves the Duke Energy Progress, LLC and North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency Settlement Agreement addressing the Ninth and Tenth Restated Full Requirements Power Purchase Agreements and the related capacity charges.
E-10 | ITC Midwest, LLC, Docket No. ER23-2033-001
Order Addressing Arguments Raised on Rehearing
The order addresses a request for rehearing and alternative request for clarification filed by the Industrial Energy Consumers of America, the Coalition of MISO Transmission Customers, the Resale Power Group of Iowa and the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group (collectively, Consumer Alliance), regarding the Commission’s August 8, 2023, order (Incentives Order) authorizing ITC Midwest, LLC (ITC Midwest) to recover 100 percent of prudently incurred costs associated with its development of an Iowa transmission project if the project is cancelled or abandoned for reasons beyond ITC Midwest’s control. The order sustains the result of the Incentives Order.
E-11 | Ameren Illinois Company, Docket No. ER23-1335-000
Order on Formal Challenge
The order grants in part, and denies in part, a formal challenge to Ameren Illinois Company’s annual informational filing of its transmission revenue requirement derived using its Commission-approved formula rate. The formal challenge, filed by Southwestern Electric Cooperative, Inc., Norris Electric Cooperative and Rural Electric Convenience Cooperative, takes issue with certain costs that Ameren Illinois included in its annual transmission revenue requirement.
G-1 | Epsilon Trading, LLC, et al. v. Colonial Pipeline Co., Docket No. OR18-7-002, et al.
Order on Initial Decision
The order on initial decision addresses briefs on and opposing exceptions to a partial initial decision issued on December 1, 2021, related to complaints that challenged Colonial Pipeline Company’s (Colonial) product loss allocation charges and methodology and its market-based rate authority in origin markets from Texas to Alabama. The order affirms in part and reverses in part the Initial Decision regarding the product loss allocation charges and methodology. The order also affirms in part and reverses in part the Initial Decision regarding Colonial’s market-based rate authority in the origin markets.
G-2 | Epsilon Trading, LLC, et al. v. Colonial Pipeline Co., Docket No. OR18-7-003, et al.
Order on Initial Decision
The order on initial decision addresses briefs on and opposing exceptions to a partial initial decision issued on April 27, 2022, related to complaints that challenged Colonial Pipeline Company’s (Colonial) cost-based transportation rates. The order affirms in part and reverses in part the Initial Decision.
Order Issuing Certificates and Approving Abandonment
The order authorizes Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC to construct, operate and maintain its Commonwealth Energy Connector Project located in Mecklenburg, Brunswick, and Greensville counties, Virginia. The Commonwealth Energy Connector Project will enable Transco to provide an additional 105,000 Dth per day of firm transportation service for Virginia Natural Gas. The order also authorizes Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC to abandon certain pipeline facilities and construct and operate its Virginia Reliability Project located in Sussex, Surry, Southampton, Isle of Wight, Greenville and Prince George counties, and the cities of Suffolk and Chesapeake, Virginia. The project consists of upgrading existing pipeline facilities and providing an additional 100,000 Dth per day of firm transportation capacity, delivered into Columbia’s system at an interconnection with Transco’s system at Emporia for re-delivery to Virginia Natural Gas for its southeastern Virginia market.
C-3 | Virginia Electric and Power Company, Docket No. CP23-468-000
Order on Petition for Declaratory Order
The order addresses Virginia Electric and Power Company’s petition for declaratory order requesting the Commission declare that its planned liquefied natural gas production, storage and regasification facility in Greensville County, Virginia, would not be subject to the Commission’s jurisdiction under section 7 of the Natural Gas Act. The order finds that the project would be exempt from the Commission’s jurisdiction under NGA section 1(c).
C-4 | Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, L.L.C., Docket No. CP20-50-002
Order Addressing Arguments Raised on Rehearing and Denying Stay
The order addresses a request for rehearing of the Notice to Proceed for Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, L.L.C.’s Evangeline Pass Expansion Project (CP20-50-002). The request, filed by Healthy Gulf and Sierra Club, seeks rehearing and vacatur of the Notice to Proceed and seeks to stay the Notice to Proceed. The order modifies the discussion in the Notice to Proceed but continues to reach the same result in this proceeding and denies the motion to stay.
C-5 | Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC, Docket No. CP22-501-000
Order Issuing Certificate
The order grants Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC (Transco) authorization to construct and operate new pipeline and compression facilities in Chilton and Coosa counties, Alabama (Southeast Energy Connector Project). The project is designed to provide 150,000 Dth per day of year-round firm transportation service from existing supply points in Mississippi and Alabama to an existing electric power generator located in Shelby County, Alabama. The project will service Unit 5 at the Earnest C. Gaston Electric Generating Plant. Transco states that the Southeast Energy Connector Project will enable Alabama Power Company to continue to meet the retail electricity needs of its customers and to satisfy certain environmental compliance requirements by transitioning Gaston Unit 5’s fuel source from coal to natural gas. Transco estimates the full potential of converting the electric generating unit from coal to natural gas would yield an overall net GHG emissions reduction of approximately 3.1 million metric tons CO2e, resulting in long-term, ongoing emission reductions. Transco executed a precedent agreement with unaffiliated shipper Southern Company Services, Inc., as an agent for Alabama Power, for the proposed project’s full capacity.
H-1 | Aspinook Hydro, LLC, Project No. 3472-026
Order Addressing Arguments Raised on Rehearing
The order addresses Aspinook Hydro, LLC’s August 10, 2023, request for rehearing of the order issuing a new license for its Wyre Wynd Hydroelectric Project, located on the Quinebaug River in New London and Windham counties, Connecticut. The order modifies and sustains the underlying order, finding that that Commission staff properly concluded that the default 40-year license term was appropriate for the Wyre Wynd Project.
H-2 | Saugerties Community Hydro, LLC, Project No. 15111-001
Order Addressing Arguments Raised on Rehearing and Setting Aside Prior Order
The order sets aside Commission staff’s September 15, 2023, order canceling Saugerties Community Hydro, LLC’s preliminary permit to study the feasibility of the proposed Saugerties Community Hydro Project No. 15111.
H-3 | New York State Electric & Gas Corporation, Project No. 2934-042
Order Addressing Arguments Raised on Rehearing and Setting Aside Prior Order in Part
The order sets aside, in part, Commission staff’s March 13, 2023, order modifying and approving the Operation Compliance Monitoring Plan for the Upper Mechanicville Hydroelectric Project, located on the Hudson River in Saratoga and Rensselaer counties, New York. The order allows the licensee to report planned and unplanned deviations directed by the New York State Canal Corporation in conjunction with its Article 403 annual report.