A former top aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is under federal investigation for his dealings with companies with business before state government, including power plant developer Competitive Power Ventures, according to the New York Daily News.
CPV Valley Energy Center Project Rendering Source: CPV
The report, citing unnamed sources, said CPV hired Joseph Percoco as a consultant. He and several other people are being investigated by Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, for improper lobbying and undisclosed conflicts of interest. Percoco made $169,000/year as Cuomo’s executive deputy secretary, according to the paper.
Percoco received payments from the companies while he served as Cuomo’s campaign manager in 2014, according to the Daily News. He returned to the state payroll for about a year after the election.
According to the paper’s sources, those payments were legal; the investigation reportedly concerns whether the payments went unreported, and if Percoco was involved in state business that involved CPV and another company that hired him. Percoco left the Cuomo administration to take an executive position at Madison Square Garden in January.
CPV is building the 650-MW natural gas-fired Valley Energy Center in Orange County, north of New York City. The New York Public Service Commission granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the project two years ago (10-E-0501). The plant broke ground last year, and its addition to the state’s power portfolio impacted transmission planning, as it will help relieve downstate constraints. (See NYPSC Staff Narrows Transmission Alternatives.)
A CPV spokesman did not return calls seeking comment.
In a recent filing with the PSC, the company said it sought to keep its structural drawings private because the plant site has been the focus of weekly protests.
Bharara served a subpoena on the governor’s office on Friday. The Cuomo administration released a statement saying, “We take violations of the public trust seriously and we believe these issues must be resolved by further investigation by the U.S. attorney. In the meantime, and as the program operates on a daily basis, the governor has ordered an immediate full review of the program.”
The governor also ordered state employees to suspend any discussions of regulatory or other matters with CPV, the Daily News reported.
The primary focus of the investigation is the so-called Buffalo Billion economic development program championed by Cuomo. Bharara’s probe began last fall. A centerpiece of that program is $750 million in direct state aid and tax credits to SolarCity, which is building a 1-GW solar panel factory, the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, according to the state.
Bharara has prosecuted and convicted several state legislators in recent years in corruption probes. Last December, he won convictions of the Democratic Speaker of the Assembly and the Republican Senate Majority Leader.
Contrary to an earlier analysis, the closure of Entergy’s FitzPatrick nuclear plant will not leave New York short of generation in 2019, NYISO says.
Fitzpatrick Nuclear Plant Source Entergy
In a report in February, the ISO had said the loss of the 882-MW plant on Lake Ontario would leave the state short at least 325 MW in three years. (See Fitzpatrick Closure Could Leave NY Generation Short.)
But an updated analysis, using a lower load forecast, found no cause for alarm. According to NYISO’s 2016 Gold Book, the coincident peak load expected for 2020 is 34,019 MW, a decrease of 843 MW from the ISO’s 2015 assessment.
“The most recent long-term forecast data shows a decline in both summer peak demand and annual energy usage,” NYISO spokesman David Flanagan said. “There are several contributing factors, including slower peak load growth in the downstate region; slower economic growth after 2020, based on Moody’s current outlook; and impacts of energy-efficiency initiatives, on-site generation and distributed resources.”
Both studies assumed 1,995 MW of generation will leave the resource base by 2020, including FitzPatrick and Exelon’s R.E. Ginna nuclear plant in 2017. (See FERC Accepts Ginna Settlement.)
Entergy announced late last year that it would close FitzPatrick because of low power prices. Based on the previous analysis, NYISO had initiated an expedited “gap solution” process in which the RTO solicits proposals from market participants outside of its usual two-year cycle to address an identified reliability need. Based on the new analysis, that process has been withdrawn.
Entergy has rebuffed New York’s efforts to keep the plant operating, including a proposed financial mechanism to subsidize carbon-free generation, as insufficient and insisted FitzPatrick will close in January. (See New Lifeline for FitzPatrick Nuclear Plant.)
MISO’s Advisory Committee has narrowed down the list of topics it expects to include in the first version of its 2016 priorities document.
The committee’s current draft lists five priorities, including seams optimization, infrastructure development, grid technology, the Clean Power Plan and gas-electric coordination. The document is intended to guide MISO parent entities in their decision-making.
“This document is not set in stone — it’s a living, breathing document,” Audrey Penner, Advisory Committee chair, told stakeholders during an April 27 meeting. “If we come out of this all a little bit unhappy … then we have achieved success, as far as I’m concerned.”
In response to multiple requests for greater prioritization of market issues, Penner said the committee could either create separate priorities covering improved markets and price formation, or fold market considerations into an existing priority.
Kent Felix, with the Power Marketers sector, suggested giving each parent entity its own set of priorities. But Advisory Committee Vice Chair Tia Elliott said more than three to five priorities would create too many areas of focus.
DeWayne Todd, with the End-Use Customers sector, said he could support what was already laid out, but he thought some of the priorities were too narrowly defined. He said the Clean Power Plan and gas-electric coordination were “too tactical” to be overarching topics.
Paul Kelley, with the Transmission Owners sector, said gas-electric coordination deserved a spot on the list because of MISO’s rapidly changing generation mix and the potential for additional FERC rulings to enhance alignment of the two industries. (See FERC OKs MISO Use of Eastern Standard Time in Day-Ahead Market.)
The Competitive Transmission Developers sector asked to include refinements to the competitive solicitation process, while the Independent Power Producers sector proposed removing gas-electric coordination in favor of a market performance and enhancement priority.
The Transmission Owners sector asked for the inclusion of a sixth “Other” category to assess the criteria and costs of market efficiency projects, consider implementation of FERC market-related initiatives and evaluate the competitive transmission development process.
The Power Marketers sector proposed a complete overhaul of the priorities document, suggesting that a price formation priority replace grid enhancement, an “enhance operations” priority replace gas-electric coordination and removing the federal rule priority in favor of a “regulation implementation” priority, with a subcategory dedicated to developing new market products.
The Public Consumer Advocates and Coordinating Members sectors, on the other hand, said the current draft was acceptable as is.
Penner asked for feedback by May 11 to inform a final document, which should be completed ahead of a vote at the May 25 committee meeting.
Economist Joins MISO Finance Subcommittee
The Advisory Committee elected Pradeep Sircar to represent consumer advocates in MISO’s Finance Subcommittee. Sircar, an applied economist with the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, currently analyzes the MISO and PJM markets and has previously worked at MISO and CAISO. In his 30-plus years of experience, Sircar also worked with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission, Iowa Utilities Board, Ohio Edison and Northern Indiana Public Service Co.
New England is expected to have adequate electricity resources this summer, according to ISO-NE.
Although electricity supplies are expected to be sufficient, construction work on the region’s pipeline infrastructure will limit delivery of natural gas to some power plants and require them to obtain alternative fuel.
Under normal weather conditions, electricity demand is forecasted to peak at 26,704 MW. Last summer, demand for power peaked on July 20 at 24,398 MW.
Plant Maintenance Causes Rusty Fallout to Stain Parked Cars
A Calpine power plant in Westbrook that spewed rust from its exhaust stacks after undergoing maintenance will have to pay $300,000 to clean up automobiles parked at a neighboring business.
Calpine said a contractor had sprayed dry ice onto metal boiler tubes to remove rust during a maintenance procedure. When the plant was restarted on April 12, the residue spewed out of the stacks into the atmosphere, which combined with rainfall to stain cars parked at the nearby Idexx Laboratories. Calpine is paying between $1,000 and $1,500 each to have about 300 cars detailed, said John Flumerfelt, a company spokesman.
The company reported the incident to the state Department of Environmental Protection, which did not have concerns about possible health effects.
Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a solar energy bill Wednesday that did not include a price cap that he demanded.
A request by LePage to cap net metering credits at 10 cents/kWh, which would then decline after 18 months, failed to win legislative support before the bill was passed.
Solar advocates now plan to press lawmakers to override the veto when they reconvene Friday. But the Legislature’s vote to approve the measure fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to overturn the governor’s veto, raising doubts about an override.
Silver Spring Company Launches Community Solar Initiative
A Silver Spring man intends to be one of the first in the state to take advantage of new legislation enabling a community solar concept.
Gary Skulnik’s Neighborhood Sun will allow customers to pay a subscription fee to help fund solar arrays in return for credits on their electricity bills.
He estimates his project will be in the 12- to 14-cent/kW range, and subscribers would save about 10% on their monthly bills.
PSC Approves Twain Tx Project, But Only if Counties Agree
The Public Service Commission approved Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois’ Mark Twain transmission project last week, but it passed the buck to five counties that must approve the 100-mile 345-kV line.
The PSC ascribed several conditions to Ameren’s certificate of convenience, including the approval of five northeastern counties that the line will cross. Four counties have not taken a position. Marion County Commissioner Lyndon Bode said his county plans on sticking to a 2014 resolution that opposes the line.
Neighbors United, a 400-member group of landowners opposing the line, said while they were disappointed with the decision to award Ameren a certificate of convenience, they were “heartened” that local governments will have effective veto control over the route.
Public Utilities Commission Awards Renewable Grants
The Public Utilities Commission awarded $1 million to four renewable energy projects sponsored by the state’s Renewable Energy Fund. The PUC received eight applications with requests for more than $3 million.
Grants were awarded to: the Pemi-Baker Cooperative School District, for $325,000 to install a dry wood chip-fired biomass boiler; Ever Better Hydro, for $200,000 to reactivate a 415-kW hydroelectric station; University of New Hampshire, for $200,000 to install and operate a 200-kW steam turbine generator at its combined heat and power plant that burns landfill gas; and Froling for $300,000 to install a dry wood chi- fired biomass boiler and a continuous feed wood chip drying facility for increasing production of dry wood chips.
The grants will be leveraged with an additional $1.9 million in project funds.
Christie: No Plans to Comply with Clean Power Plan
Christie
Gov. Chris Christie’s administration has no plans to draft a proposal to comply with EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
“It’s not in our DNA. We don’t need EPA’s re-engineering,” said John Giordano, an assistant commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The state has joined a lawsuit with 27 others to block the carbon reduction effort.
The number of degraded bolts found at the Indian Point nuclear plant was the largest seen to date at a U.S. reactor, according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission blog post. Specialists found 227 of 832 stainless steel alloy bolts, which hold together baffle plates, were degraded.
Inspection of the bolts in pressurized-water reactors became a priority after cracking was identified in baffle-former bolts in the 1980s in France. The degradation is caused by irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking. The bolts measure about 2 inches in length and five-eighths of an inch in diameter. Baffle plates help direct water up through the nuclear fuel assemblies, where it is heated.
Entergy, the plant’s operator, is analyzing the condition and replacing the degraded bolts during a refueling outage. It will also assess any implications for Indian Point Unit 3, though that reactor is believed to be less susceptible. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has stated he wants Indian Point shut down because of its proximity to New York City.
The state’s coal industry, which is threatened by carbon-reduction requirements of EPA’s Clean Power Plan, will ask the state for more financial help.
“This is no longer a vague threat out there in the future,” Jason Bohrer, president of the Lignite Energy Council, told members at the organization’s annual meeting. The council, which makes recommendations to the Industrial Commission on funding lignite coal-related research projects, has typically been funded with extraction taxes collected from the coal industry.
The industry received a first-ever direct appropriation during the past legislative session of $5 million from the general fund for the Lignite Research Council.
The Corporation Commission voted 2-0 to approve Oklahoma Gas & Electric’s third attempt for a $500 million coal scrubber project at its Sooner Generating Station to address tougher emissions regulations. The commission called the project “reasonable.”
The commission last year rejected two previous attempts by OG&E to get preapproval for the scrubbers and other environmental and replacement generation projects. The first case, a $1.1 billion request, would have meant bill increases of up to 19% by 2019. A narrowed, second request was voted down in December.
OG&E’s latest request for a lower-cost solution was supported by the commission’s public utility division, the attorney general’s office and Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers. They argued the scrubbers would preserve fuel diversity. OG&E planned to convert the Sooner coal units to natural gas if regulators didn’t approve the scrubbers.
FirstEnergy utility Met-Ed is asking regulators for a rate increase that would hike residential customer bills by 13.6% to pay for improvements to the distribution system.
That translates to a monthly increase of $17.52 for a typical residential customer. The utility last sought an increase in 2014, which raised residents’ rates by 10.9%.
Officials Break Ground on Carbon Emission Test Center
Mead
Gov. Matt Mead, state officials and utility executives broke ground April 27 on a coal-fired power plant’s test center Wednesday in what they termed a “moon shot” bid to save the coal industry by identifying economic uses for captured carbon emissions.
Officials presented the test center, where teams of scientists will compete to turn carbon emissions into economic products, as the cure to coal’s ills. Mead said the center is evidence the state could help determine the future of the coal industry, saying it would not idle as federal officials imposed new environmental regulations that would make coal uncompetitive.
The $21 million Integrated Test Center will be built adjacent to SPP member Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Dry Fork Station, one of the newest coal-fired plants in the U.S. Scientists will compete to win a $10 million purse from the X-Prize Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helped launch the private space industry. The winner will take the greatest volume of carbon from the plant’s emissions and turn it into a product with the greatest value.
FERC last week granted Northeast Transmission Development some incentives for its Artificial Island project but denied one adder and set its requested base return on equity for hearing and settlement procedures.
Salem Nuclear Generating Station on Artificial Island Source: Wikimedia
FERC denied in part NTD’s request for rate incentives, saying it had not provided adequate support for its proposed 50-basis-point “risks and challenges” adder (ER16-453).
But the commission accepted NTD’s request for a 50-basis-point adder for its participation in PJM. The commission also approved NTD’s hypothetical capital structure, recovery of deferred pre-commercial and corporation formation costs and abandoned plant recovery.
“The project will require a number of siting and permitting processes at multiple jurisdictional levels and may be canceled or modified through the PJM [Regional Transmission Expansion Plan] process,” FERC said. “The project also faces significant construction challenges regardless of whether NTD ultimately decides to construct an overhead or submarine line.”
FERC set for hearing NTD’s proposed base ROE of 10.5% in the face of protests from DMEC, which asked FERC to set a base ROE of 8.91%, and AMP, which called for a base of 8.88%. If a settlement is not reached, a trial-type evidentiary hearing will be held.
The formula rate and protocols will be accepted effective Feb. 16, subject to refund.
PJM planners are considering reconfiguring the project as a result of Public Service Electric and Gas’ $272 million cost estimate for its portion of the project — nearly double what PJM had estimated. That could alter the project’s scope enough to require it be rebid under FERC Order 1000. (See FERC Upholds Cost Allocation for Artificial Island, Bergen-Linden Projects.)
While MISO’s Market Subcommittee (MSC) will not be subject to a name change in light of the creation of the Resource Adequacy Subcommittee (RASC), it will have to revisit parts of its charter and management plan to reflect a division of market responsibilities, MISO’s Steering Committee decided last week.
Some stakeholders had suggested changing the name of the MSC to explicitly denote its focus on energy and ancillary markets, compared with the RASC’s emphasis on capacity markets. Most Steering Committee members shot down the suggestion in an April 27 meeting.
“In a selfish way, I would prefer not to add anymore words to the acronym,” American Electric Power’s Kent Feliks said.
“I don’t see a need to change it,” Manitoba Hydro’s Audrey Penner said. “Everyone has come to understand exactly what it means.”
The Steering Committee also examined the MSC’s charter and management plan to ensure the subcommittee’s oversight responsibilities avoid overlap with that of the RASC, recommending the MSC remove any references related to capacity markets.
Six Working Group and Subcommittee Charters Greenlit
The charter for the Loss of Load Expectation Working Group was also approved with the minor change that it report to the newly formed RASC instead of the Planning Advisory Committee.
The committee also approved the charter for the System Operator Training Working Group (SOTWG) despite stakeholder questions about whether the responsibilities of that group should be transformed into a MISO function.
MISO Grants 2 Data Requests, Denies Another
MISO will soon begin posting final five-minute real-time market clearing prices and historical five-minute real-time ex ante LMPs and market-clearing prices, according to Tom Welch, former liaison to the now-retired Data Transparency Working Group.
However, MISO declined a request to post all definitions contained in its monthly voltage and local reliability make-whole payments reports.
Welch said MISO cannot break down the report any further because individual components would reveal revenue sufficiency guarantee payments and make-whole payments for specific units, violating Tariff confidentiality provisions.
Welch also said MISO is reviewing a new request for reports that break down wind output by region.
With its effort to convert its Oncor transmission and distribution utility into a real estate investment trust (REIT) foundering, Energy Future Holdings filed a new bankruptcy plan Sunday.
The Chapter 11 reorganization plan, filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, is the latest attempt by EFH to emerge from a $42 billion bankruptcy now two years old (14-bk-10979). The company asked for a confirmation hearing by Aug. 1; creditors are supposed to be able to vote on the deal by July 22.
Under the new plan, EFH said it still wants to spin off its Luminant generation and TXU Energy retail businesses to senior creditors. The difference this time is EFH would allow the creditors to take control of those assets without waiting for an Oncor deal.
The Wall Street Journal named Florida-based NextEra Energy, which has pursued Oncor since 2015 and intervened in Oncor’s docket with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (#45188), as a potential suitor.
Oncor, which delivers power to more than 3 million homes and businesses in North and West Texas, is estimated to be worth as much as $20 billion. Under the terms of EFH’s original bankruptcy filing, Oncor’s sale would have funded the exit plan.
But the PUCT’s order slapped numerous conditions on the proposed deal that made it less attractive to investors, including requiring federal tax savings be set aside for possible refunds to customers. The Hunt group’s proposed REIT structure would have allowed them to funnel as much as $250 million a year in tax savings to shareholders.
Sixteen Dallas business and political leaders, including Ross Perot, former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Roger Staubach, filed a letter with the PUCT last week asking the commission to reconsider its order.
EFH said in its Chapter 11 filing Sunday that because the PUCT’s order “did not include all of the approvals required for consummation” of the original plan, investors party to the Oncor spinoff elected not to extend an April 30 deadline that gave the Hunt group exclusive rights to the acquisition. The Hunt group responded by choosing not to put up $50 million to retain those rights for an additional 30 days, sending Oncor back to square one.
During a bankruptcy court hearing April 28, the Hunt group’s lead attorney said the PUCT’s conditions and IRS concerns about continued tax benefits from REITs had soured the deal.
Oncor declined to comment. In a statement, Hunt indicated it may still pursue its original plan, saying the “termination notice served earlier [Sunday] does not preclude our transaction. The new plan filed by EFH early this morning explicitly contemplates a potential REIT transaction under our current proceeding before the [PUCT].”
The Hunt group had asked the PUCT for a rehearing, which is still scheduled to take place Wednesday. EFH legal counsel said during the bankruptcy court hearing that an alternative plan under consideration would allow the pursuit of a REIT.
EFH was the result of a $48 billion leveraged buyout of TXU Corp. in 2007. Investors led by KKR and TPG Capital bet on rising energy prices; instead, they found themselves saddled with $42 billion in debt following the 2008 global financial crisis and plunging gas prices because of the fracking boom.
A U.S. bankruptcy judge in December approved EFH’s plan to split into two separate companies — Oncor and the unregulated power generation and retail arms, Luminant and TXU Energy, respectively — wiping out the buyout sponsors’ equity. The Luminant-TXU Energy businesses would go to senior lenders owed about $24 billion.
Ohio’s electric industry, which has been roiled for months by American Electric Powers’s and FirstEnergy’s requests for above-market power purchase agreements, shows no sign of calming down anytime soon.
Andre Porter Photo Credit: Kevin Graff (Ohio Citizen Action)
On Friday, Andre T. Porter, the chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, announced his resignation, little more than a year after taking the position and less than a month after shepherding through the controversial PPAs.
The commission’s order prompted AEP CEO Nick Akins to threaten that the company may lobby Ohio legislators to reregulate the state’s power market, a position that FirstEnergy also has indicated it would support.
During an earnings call Thursday, Akins said that the company would rather sell all its generation or seek reregulation rather than submit its PPA for FERC review. The commission said that despite Ohio’s retail choice law, the companies’ ratepayers were essentially “captive” customers because the PPAs would impose on them non-bypassable distribution charges.
As a result, the commission said the PPAs would be reviewed under the Edgar test, which will require the companies to prove the lack of affiliate abuse by evidence of head-to-head competition or benchmarks such as prices that non-affiliated buyers are willing to pay. The PPAs were not subject to competition, and both Dynegy and Exelon have proposed deals that they say would save ratepayers billions. (See Next up in Ohio PPA Battle: Dynegy Weighs in.)
Opponents of the PPAs asked PUCO to reconsider its approval Monday, the deadline for responses to the orders. And in a surprise move, FirstEnergy asked PUCO to allow it to withdraw the PPA but keep a charge on customers’ bills that would provide essentially the same rate increases the PPA provided (14-1297-EL-SSO).
The surcharges would be based on estimated power production costs, not actual costs. If approved by PUCO, it would allow FirstEnergy to avoid FERC review.
“FirstEnergy’s latest gambit underscores that its bailout proposal has nothing to do with protecting customers or preserving Ohio generation, and everything to do with propping up corporate profits,” said Shannon Fisk, managing attorney at Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm representing the Sierra Club.
Will Ohio Reregulate?
An angry Akins told stock analysts Thursday that AEP “will advocate for legislation in Ohio that would reregulate generation in the state or provide a mechanism for AEP Ohio to own and develop generation assets, including the plants included in the PPA and renewables.”
In FirstEnergy’s earnings call Wednesday, before the commission’s order, there was no mention of reregulation.
But CEO Chuck Jones told The Plain Dealer last year that he would end Ohio deregulation “in a heartbeat.” And in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing after the FERC order, the company said that it “will consider both short-term and long-term legislative and regulatory solutions in Ohio to preserve the benefits associated with the” PPA.
Former PUCO Chairman Todd Snitchler says reregulation is unlikely.
“Given how far down the road Ohio has already gone, it would be very difficult to put the proverbial toothpaste back in the tube,” said Snitchler, who is now spokesman for the Alliance for Energy Choice, a group formed to fight the PPAs.
“I believe there is no strong appetite in the legislature to move toward reregulation … now that they are seeing the outcome that the legislation intended,” he said. “And quite frankly, I think it very odd that a company such as AEP is now going to say, ‘I’m going to pick up the phone and get them to do my bidding.’”
A spokesman for Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Cliff Rosenberger told The Columbus Dispatch that “at this time, we are considering all options and are willing to have a discussion to ensure we make a decision that is best for Ohio’s future.”
State Sen. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) told the Dispatch he wants an “all-hands-on-deck, high-level meeting” with the governor’s office and legislative leaders to determine next steps. “There is a limit to which we can prop them up,” he said, later adding, “I’m not saying it’s impossible. I’m saying it’s a very tall order of business.”
Akins said Thursday that legislators could choose a narrow reregulation that covers only a few power plants.
PUCO Chair Porter Leaving May 20
Porter announced he will leave PUCO effective May 20. “At this time, my wife and I have made the very difficult decision to pursue a new opportunity for our family back in the private sector,” he wrote in a letter to Gov. John Kasich.
Porter did not say where he was going, but rumors have been rippling through the utility industry that he has taken a position with an RTO.
At Thursday’s PJM Markets and Reliability Committee meeting, CFO Suzanne Daugherty addressed the rumors, saying Porter was not coming to PJM. Sources at the meeting told RTO Insider they believe Porter, an attorney, is headed to MISO.
MISO declined to comment Monday. Porter was not available for comment. PUCO spokeswoman Holly Karg said he has not indicated where he is going.
Before working at the state’s Commerce Department, Porter served as a commissioner from 2011 to 2013. His current term wasn’t scheduled to expire until April 2020.
“When I joined state government in 2011, I did so with the personal aspiration to be impactful within an allotted period of time,” Porter wrote in his letter. “At the PUCO, while working independently of the administration, I’ve led the commission in addressing some of the most challenging utility issues in recent history.”
Nominating Council
Replacing Porter won’t happen quickly, Snitchler said. A nominating council would have to come up with four names to submit to Kasich for consideration, a process that could take months. In the meantime, he said, the governor could name one of the sitting commissioners as acting chair.
In FirstEnergy’s earnings call Wednesday, Guggenheim Partners analyst Shahriar Pourezza asked about rumors of Porter’s resignation. “The timing is a little bit suspect and it’s a crucial period,” he said.
“I think Chairman Porter showed outstanding leadership during the time he was at the commission,” CEO Jones answered. Porter called Jones to inform him that he was leaving to pursue another job, the CEO said. “When job opportunities present themselves, you don’t get to pick the timing of them. So we had a good conversation, and I don’t think you should read anything into it other than what was said.”
The timing of Porter’s departure — and his arrival to the commission — was also noted in a report by UBS Securities analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith. “We note he was effectively brought back into the role coincident with the start of the Ohio FE and AEP PPA process, and with its recent approval (and conclusion of the docket), his return to the commission appears closed,” he said.
Analysts ‘Struggling’
Jones told analysts the company would hold off on providing a second-quarter earnings guidance until FERC determined the PPA’s fate.
Analysts asked when the company expects FERC to make a decision, with Chief Legal Officer Vespoli predicting the commission will want to provide guidance before PJM’s Base Residual Auction in May.
Meanwhile, FirstEnergy Solutions President Donny Schneider acknowledged that two of the plants covered under the PPA — the W.H. Sammis coal-fired plant and the Davis-Besse nuclear plant — would be profitable even without the contract.
“Yes, for 2016, Sammis and Davis-Besse would definitely both have positive earnings-per-share impacts,” Schneider said in response to a question from Macquarie Research Equities analyst Angie Storozynski.
“We are all struggling, I think, with the impact of your PPAs on your bottom line, because we just don’t know what is the offsets from the current earnings power of these assets,” Storozynski said.
“I understand you are struggling with it,” Jones replied. “And believe me, as soon as we can give you clarification, we plan to do that. Once we have an answer from FERC, we will tell you what the value of this company is going forward with the” PPA.
FirstEnergy’s stock closed at $33.05 Monday, down 8% since FERC’s ruling. AEP was up 0.7% to $64.36.
Andre T. Porter, the chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, submitted his resignation to Gov. John Kasich on Friday morning, little more than a year after taking the position and less than a month after shepherding through controversial power purchase agreements for FirstEnergy and AEP Ohio.
Photo Credit: Kevin Graff (Ohio Citizen Action)
“At this time, my wife and I have made the very difficult decision to pursue a new opportunity for our family back in the private sector,” he wrote to Kasich. “With mixed emotions, I must inform you that I will resign as PUCO commissioner effective as of the close of business on May 20, 2016.”
Porter did not say where he was going, but rumors have been rippling through the utility industry that he has taken a position with an RTO. At yesterday’s PJM Markets and Reliability Committee meeting, CFO Suzanne Daugherty addressed the rumors, saying Porter was not coming to PJM.
Stakeholders and PJM officials said privately they believe Porter is headed to MISO. Officials at MISO did not respond to requests for comment Friday morning.
Porter, an attorney, was not available for comment, according Holly Karg, director of public affairs for the commission. She said he has not indicated where he is going, and said he would not be issuing any further comments today.
“We very much appreciate Andre Porter’s distinguished record of public service as a member of the governor’s cabinet where he directed the Ohio Department of Commerce and — in an independent role — as commissioner and most recently chairman of the Public Utilities Commission,” said Joe Andrews, Kasich’s press secretary, in a prepared statement.
Before working at the state’s Commerce Department, Porter served as a commissioner from 2011 to 2013. His current term wasn’t scheduled to expire until April 2020.
“When I joined state government in 2011, I did so with the personal aspiration to be impactful within an allotted period of time,” Porter wrote in his letter. “At the PUCO, while working independently of the administration, I’ve led the commission in addressing some of the most challenging utility issues in recent history.”
FERC late Wednesday rescinded waivers it granted American Electric Power and FirstEnergy, meaning the controversial power purchase agreements approved by Ohio regulators will be subject to the commission’s affiliate abuse test.
The commission granted a request by the Electric Power Supply Association and others asking it to rescind the affiliate sales waivers it gave AEP in 2014 (EL16-33) and FirstEnergy in 2008 (EL16-34) based on Ohio’s retail choice law.
The commission said despite retail choice, the company’s ratepayers were essentially “captive” customers because the PPAs, approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio on March 31, would impose on them non-bypassable distribution charges.
“These non-bypassable charges present the ‘potential for the inappropriate transfer of benefits from [captive] customers to the shareholders of the franchised public utility,’ and, thus, could undermine the goal of the commission’s affiliate restrictions,” FERC said.
As a result, the PPAs will be subject to FERC’s Edgar test, which will require the companies to prove the lack of affiliate abuse by evidence of head-to-head competition, or benchmarks such as prices that non-affiliated buyers are willing to pay.
That will be a difficult hurdle for the companies to clear, as the PPAs were not subject to competition, and critics say they could impose billions in extra costs on consumers.
FirstEnergy shares dropped 4.85% in after-hours trading. AEP shares were down 1.2%.
Lifeline
FirstEnergy and AEP have said the PPAs are crucial to keeping some of their underperforming coal-fired plants running in the state.
In approving the eight-year contracts, Ohio regulators said they were striving for “rate stability” by building in safeguards intended to protect consumers, modifying the plans to limit bill increases. The commission also added provisions meant to “encourage” grid modernization and retail competition. (See FERC Action Awaited Following PUCO OK on PPAs.)
Although the PPAs guarantee the generators receive revenue streams above current market prices, AEP and FirstEnergy contend the deals will save customers money if natural gas prices increase.
FirstEnergy spokesman Doug Colafella said the company was disappointed in the ruling. “Our affiliate FirstEnergy Solutions was previously granted authorization to conduct transactions with our Ohio utilities in 2008, and the PPA will benefit our customers by protecting them against rising retail prices and volatility in future years.
“We also believe that the PPA complies with existing FERC rules that promote retail shopping, and our Ohio customers will continue to have the ability to choose a competitive supplier. FirstEnergy is evaluating its options, which include seeking rehearing of FERC’s order, as well as filing the PPA for FERC’s review. It’s always been our position that the PPA will satisfy the FERC’s criteria for an affiliate contract.”
AEP: Reregulate Ohio
On an earnings call Thursday, AEP CEO Nick Akins said the company would lobby Ohio legislators to reregulate the power market — or sell all its generation — as a result of the FERC ruling.
“FERC’s decision to require review of the AEP Ohio power purchase agreement is a disappointing and unfortunate intrusion by FERC into Ohio’s ability to define its own long-term electricity supply and protect customers and the state economy from electricity price spikes and market volatility,” a clearly frustrated Akins said on the call.
“Although we believe the AEP Ohio power purchase agreement is the best long-term approach for our Ohio customers and the state and that it would survive FERC review, AEP is not interested in participating in a drawn-out FERC review process,” he said.
“We are focused on being a regulated utility company, so we will initiate a strategic review of the generation assets in the power purchase agreement, similar to the review already in place for our other competitive generation assets. At the same time, we also will advocate for legislation in Ohio that would reregulate generation in the state or provide a mechanism for AEP Ohio to own and develop generation assets, including the plants included in the PPA and renewables.”
EPSA Challenge
EPSA, the Retail Energy Supply Association, Dynegy, NRG Energy and GenOn Energy Management had asked FERC to rescind the waivers to ensure a Section 205 review of the eight-year PPAs. (See Dynegy, NRG Ask FERC to Void Ohio PPAs.)
In its companion orders, FERC agreed with the complainants that the affected customers are essentially captive. In addition, in the case of FirstEnergy, “the commission addressed the more general concern raised by a protester that FirstEnergy’s electric security plan proposal would create barriers to competition.”
The commission directed AEP and FirstEnergy to revise their market-based rate tariffs within 30 days and file notices of a change in status “addressing whether this change in circumstances affects any other waivers the commission previously granted.”
On Wednesday night, EPSA released a statement saying it was still reviewing the orders.
“Tonight, FERC issued orders (without dissent) granting the complaints EPSA, with support from a broad coalition of consumers, environmental groups and others, filed last January to remove the waivers protecting the controversial Ohio PPAs from full FERC review,” it said. “This means if AEP and FE elect to proceed with the wholesale contracts, they will need to file the PPAs … and show among other things that the deals they negotiated with themselves satisfy FERC’s rules designed to protect against such affiliate abuse.”
‘Effectively Captive’
FERC said its “fundamental goal in categorizing certain customers as ‘captive’ is to protect customers served by franchised public utilities from inappropriately subsidizing the market-regulated or non-utility affiliates of the franchised public utility or otherwise being financially harmed as a result of affiliate transactions and activities. … Where, as here, circumstances demonstrate that a retail customer has no choice but to pay the costs of an affiliate transaction, they effectively are captive with respect to the transaction.”
FERC did agree with AEP and FirstEnergy on one point, rejecting the complainants’ claim that the PPAs would distort prices in PJM by subsidizing the continued operation of generation that would otherwise retire.
The commission said that PJM bidding behavior was not relevant to the affiliate abuse complaint and thus outside the scope of the cases. However, the commission noted that a third complaint filed by Calpine over the PPAs, in which PJM rules are central, remains pending (EL16-49). The complainants asked FERC to expand PJM’s minimum offer price rule to ensure the PPAs don’t distort May’s 2019/20 Base Residual Auction.
FERC took note of the jurisdictional implications of its ruling, insisting in the AEP order that its ruling “does not frustrate or usurp the Ohio commission’s role in protecting retail customers. Rather, this commission has an independent role to ensure that wholesale sales of electric energy and capacity are just and reasonable and to protect against affiliate abuse. The commission’s affiliate restrictions protect against captive customers of franchised public utilities cross-subsidizing market-regulated power sales affiliates. The affiliate PPA raises the potential for cross-subsidization from AEP Ohio’s retail customers – who are captive in the sense that they cannot avoid the non-bypassable charge – to AEP Ohio’s market-regulated power sales affiliate, AEP Generation.”
The commission used virtually identical language in its FirstEnergy order.
Reaction
Former Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner John Hanger said the rulings “are obviously going to throw a huge monkey wrench in the FirstEnergy and AEP plans.”
Hanger, now a private energy industry attorney, predicted the company’s PPAs “will have a short shelf life.” He applauded FERC’s moves.
FERC, he said, “is not being swept by the powerful forces in state capitals. Electric utilities are the 800-pound gorillas” in state politics, he said.
Former PUCO chairman Todd Snitchler, now with The Alliance for Energy Choice, said Wednesday night he was “obviously pleased” with the rulings after taking a cursory review but wanted more time before commenting further.
“Today, federal regulators stood up for customers and defended fair markets and competition, sending a clear signal to any utility trying to bail out their uneconomic power plants through political prowess,” the Environmental Defense Fund said. “FERC’s decision to block these bailouts will save Ohioans $6 billion while spurring energy innovation and reducing harmful pollution.”
Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Bruce Weston also celebrated the order. “In response to legal action by the Consumers’ Counsel and others, federal officials today provided Ohioans the benefits of competitive markets and lower rates that they did not receive in the state plans filed by FirstEnergy and AEP,” Weston said. “The federal ruling has the potential to save each of several million Ohio electric consumers hundreds of dollars over the next eight years, while protecting the competitive market envisioned by the Ohio legislature in 1999.”
The committee’s 
New England is expected to have adequate electricity resources this summer, according to ISO-NE.
A Calpine power plant in Westbrook that spewed rust from its exhaust stacks after undergoing maintenance will have to pay $300,000 to clean up automobiles parked at a neighboring business.
The Public Utilities Commission awarded $1 million to four renewable energy projects sponsored by the state’s Renewable Energy Fund. The PUC received eight applications with requests for more than $3 million.
The number of degraded bolts found at the Indian Point nuclear plant was the largest seen to date at a U.S. reactor, according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission blog post. Specialists found 227 of 832 stainless steel alloy bolts, which hold together baffle plates, were degraded.
The Corporation Commission voted 2-0 to approve Oklahoma Gas & Electric’s third attempt for a $500 million coal scrubber project at its Sooner Generating Station to address tougher emissions regulations. The commission called the project “reasonable.”
FirstEnergy utility Met-Ed is asking regulators for a rate increase that would hike residential customer bills by 13.6% to pay for improvements to the distribution system.
