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On August 31, 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
("Commission") issued an order ("August 31
Order") in which it denied a complaint
("Complaint") by the California Public Utilities
Commission, Northern California Power Agency, City and County of
San Francisco, the State Water Contractors, and the Transmission
Agency of Northern California (collectively,
"Complainants") against Pacific Gas and Electric Company
("PG&E"). Complainants alleged that PG&E
was in violation of its obligation under Order No. 890 to conduct
an open, coordinated, and transparent transmission planning process
because, according to Complainants, more than 80 percent of
PG&E's transmission planning is done on an internal basis
without opportunity for stakeholder input or review. In Order
No. 890, the Commission found, among other things, that in order
for a Regional Transmission Organization or Independent System
Operator's transmission planning processes to be open and
transparent, transmission customers and stakeholders must be able
to participate in each underlying transmission owner's
transmission planning process.
On February 2, 2017, Complainants filed the Complaint against
PG&E—a transmission-owning member of the California
Independent System Operator Corp.—alleging that
PG&E's transmission owner tariff ("TO Tariff")
violates the transmission planning requirements of Order No.
890. Specifically, Complainants argued that PG&E's TO
Tariff violates Order No. 890 because PG&E's asset
management projects and activities (i.e., projects and
activities necessary to maintain a safe, reliable, and compliant
grid, based on existing grid topology) go through a self-approval
process without stakeholder involvement. Further,
Complainants asserted that all capitalized transmission work should
qualify under the Order No. 890 transmission planning requirements,
which would include PG&E's self-approved transmission
work.
In the August 31 Order, the Commission stated that Complainants
failed to meet their burden of proof under section 206 of the
Federal Power Act to show that PG&E's TO Tariff
transmission planning provisions are unjust, unreasonable, unduly
discriminatory, or preferential because PG&E does not require
asset management projects and activities to go through an Order No.
890-compliant transmission planning process. In addition, the
Commission disagreed with Complainants that the asset management
projects and activities at issue fall under the scope of Order No.
890. The Commission held that Order No. 890 was intended to
address concerns regarding undue discrimination in grid
expansion and that, to the extent PG&E's asset
management projects and activities do not expand the grid, they are
not subject to Order No. 890, regardless of whether they are
capitalized in PG&E's transmission rate base.
A copy of the Commission's order is available here.
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