State action in regional transmission groups
States should participate in coordinated transmission planning through regional transmission groups, while reserving their right to pass upon transmission planning. This would smooth an otherwise difficult transition, as FERC and state regulators seek to facilitate a competitive bulk power market that ignores arbitrary jurisdiction lines. Since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued its Policy Statement on Regional Transmission Groups, two RTG`s, the Western Regional Transmission Association and the Southwest Regional Transmission Association, have gained conditional approval from FERC. A third, the Northwest Regional Transmission Association, files its governing agreement with the Commission, seeking FERC`s approval. Price setting within RTGs and information exchanges involved in planning the grid raise questions of the legality of these collective actions under the antitrust laws. All three agreements allow for exchanges of commercial and planning information, but, conspicuously, do not set transmission prices. For the moment, therefore, antitrust liability for RTGs would arise out of the information exchanges involved in planning the grid. In addition, with FERC pushing for `restructuring` at the wholesale level through open access and the states becoming aggressive in trying to institute competition at the consumer level through retail wheeling, issues of federal-state jurisdiction in transmission have come to the fore.
- OSTI ID:
- 41685
- Journal Information:
- Electricity Journal, Journal Name: Electricity Journal Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 7; ISSN ELEJE4; ISSN 1040-6190
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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