PJM MRC/MC Preview

Below is a summary of the issues scheduled to be brought to a vote at the Markets and Reliability and Members committees Thursday. Each item is listed by agenda number, description and projected time of discussion, followed by a summary of the issue and links to prior coverage in RTO Insider.

RTO Insider will be in Wilmington covering the discussions and votes. See next Tuesday’s newsletter for a full report.

Markets and Reliability Committee

2. PJM MANUALS (9:10-9:40)

Members will be asked to endorse the following manual changes:

Manual 3: Transmission Operations — Updates names; clarifies timing for load shed for post-contingency voltage collapse; updates several sections; adds procedures.
Manual 13: Emergency Operations — Clarifies actions taken prior to emergency procedures; adds Min Gen Advisory procedure; updates Cold/Hot Weather Alerts; revises geomagnetic disturbance procedure; condenses and consolidates Attachment A.
Manual 11: Energy & Ancillary Services Market Operations — The changes will allow PJM to relieve demand response resources of their regulation and synchronized reserve responsibilities during Load Management Events. The change addresses the inability of DR resources to provide ancillary services and load management simultaneously.
Manual 14B: PJM Regional Transmission Planning Process — Changes made in accordance with North American Electric Reliability Corp. standards PRC-023-3 (Transmission Relay Loadability) and TPL-001-4.
Manual 28: Operating Agreement Accounting — Revised to include Load Reconciliation data in the settlement of emergency load response and emergency energy billing.
Manual 29: Billing — Changes method of reimbursing treatment of underpayments of miscellaneous items and special adjustments to avoid cost shifts.
Manual 13: Emergency Operations — Updates the 2015 day-ahead scheduling reserve requirement to 5.93%, down from 6.27% in 2014. The new requirement is based on a load forecast error of 2.15% (up 0.04% from 2014) and a forced outage rate of 3.78% (down 0.38%).

3. ENERGY / RESERVE PRICING & INTERCHANGE VOLATILITY (ERPIV) UPDATE (9:40-10:00)

The MRC will be asked again to approve PJM’s proposal to limit interchange during emergency conditions. An MRC vote last month on the issue fell just short of a two-thirds approval. (See PJM MRC OKs Change on Reserves; Interchange Limit Falls Short.)

The proposal to be voted on includes language to address hoarding and manipulation of interchange “room,” in order to address concerns raised by the Market Monitor.

PJM officials said they intended to recommend operating under the new rules, which require only a manual change, with or without the two-thirds mandate. The rule is intended to prevent markets and operations from being whipsawed by large swings in imports.

4. GAS UNIT COMMITMENT (10:00-10:20)

Beginning in January, gas generators will be able to change their offers to reflect fluctuating fuel prices, under a proposal being brought to the MRC. The proposal would allow generators to lock in their fuel prices three hours in advance of the operating hour.

The option would be available to resources that did not receive day-ahead commitments and were not picked up in the reliability assessment and commitment (RAC) run. Units with day-ahead commitments and those selected in the RAC run can switch prices after the end of their last committed hour. Units committed in real time will be unable to change their cost schedules until released. (See PJM Members Approve Intraday Updates to Generator Cost Schedules.)

5. SELLER CREDIT (10:20-10:40)

Members will be asked to endorse PJM’s plan to eliminate the “seller credit” provision from its credit policy, which RTO officials said was unnecessary. The provision was enacted when PJM still used monthly billing, to allow participants with consistent net sell positions some unsecured credit. Due to changes in credit policy and the 2009 switch to weekly billing, the need for seller credit is now addressed by the Reliability Pricing Model seller credit, a larger and less volatile credit, PJM said.

6. RESIDENTIAL DEMAND RESPONSE: PARTICIPATION IN THE PJM SYNCHRONIZED RESERVE MARKET & MEASUREMENT AND VERIFICATION FOR ENERGY AND LOAD MANAGEMENT (10:40-10:55)

The committee will be asked to endorse a proposal that PJM begin measuring the demand response performance of some residential customers through sampling of interval-meter data. (See Operating Committee Briefs, Nov.11.)

7. DEFINITIONS IN GOVERNING DOCUMENTS (10:55-11:10)

Members will vote on non-substantive revisions to definitions in the Tariff, Operating Agreement, Reliability Assurance Agreement and Manual 35: Definitions and Acronyms. The changes are intended to align the documents.

Members Committee

2. CONSENT AGENDA (1:20-1:25)

The committee will be asked to approve the following:

Operating Agreement (OA) revisions to ease Transmission Owners’ access to generator data feeds.
Updated Installed Reserve Margins and related metrics for 2015/16 through 2018/19 delivery years.
Tariff revisions related to energy and reserve pricing. (See PJM MRC OKs Change on Reserves; Interchange Limit Falls Short.)
Approve/endorse proposed non-substantive revisions to definitions in the Tariff and OA, aimed at providing alignment of definitions between the documents.

3. ELECTIONS (1:25-1:30)

The committee will elect members to the 2015 Finance Committee and sector whips, and the Members Committee vice chair.

4. WINDOW PROPOSAL FEE (1:30-1:45)

The MC will vote on a proposed $30,000 fee for transmission developers making proposals under competitive windows. (See PJM Members Approve $30K Fee on ‘Greenfield’ Tx Proposals.)

6. ENERGY MARKET OFFER CAP (2:00-2:30)

Members will vote on Tariff and OA revisions regarding energy market offer price caps proposed by Old Dominion Electric Cooperative. (See Load, Supply Trade Blame over Offer Cap Impasse.)

November 11, 2014

PJM TEAC IDs 20 Market Efficiency Candidates

PJM has identified 20 candidates for “market efficiency” projects in the competitive window that opened Oct. 30.

The candidates, which were presented to the Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee this morning, were based on annual simulated congestion frequency of at least 25 hours in the 2019 and 2022 study years.

They include 17 lower voltage facilities with a minimum of $1 million congestion in the study years and two regional facilities — AP SOUTH Interface l/o Black Oak-Bedington and AEP-DOM Interface l/o Black Oak-Bedington — with at least $10 million in congestion.

PJM said facilities below the thresholds were not likely to pass the minimum 1.25:1 benefit-cost criteria.

The RTO will also accept proposals to address capacity import limitations and thermal overloads on the Roseland-Cedar Grove-Clifton 230-kV corridor.

Artificial Island Update

PJM staff plans to announce its revised recommendation on the Artificial Island stability project at the Jan. 8 TEAC meeting, prior to a February recommendation to the Board of Managers. PJM will allow the four finalists to make presentations at a special TEAC meeting to be scheduled the week of Dec. 8. (See Two of 4 Artificial Island Finalists Offer Cost Caps.)

November 11, 2014June 15, 2023

PJM MIC Briefs

PJM and NYISO last week successfully launched Coordinated Transaction Scheduling (CTS), an effort to reduce uneconomic interchange flows. “So far it’s going well,” PJM’s Stan Williams told the Market Implementation Committee last week.

The new product allows traders to submit bids that clear only when the price difference between New York and PJM exceeds a threshold set by the bidder.

CTS began Nov. 4, a day after PJM began implementing credit checks for all exports. Williams said 57 CTS transactions were consummated Nov. 4 and the volume has grown since. PJM said as much as one-third of exports from PJM to New York occur when PJM prices are higher. (See NYISO Scheduling Product Wins FERC OK.)

PJM will continue discussions on a similar product with MISO at today’s Joint Stakeholder meeting at MISO headquarters.

PJM, Members to Discuss Earlier Notice on Pricing Interfaces

Stakeholders agreed Thursday to consider whether PJM should be required to provide more notice to the market before introducing “closed loop” interfaces to capture operator actions in pricing.

The MIC approved a problem statement by DC Energy’s Bruce Bleiweis to consider if such pricing interfaces should be barred from taking effect until they are announced before the monthly Financial Transmission Rights or Balance of Planning Period FTR auction.

In the last year, PJM has created closed loop interfaces in at least four locations so that operator actions — such as sub-zonal dispatch of demand response — are captured in LMPs rather than uplift. PJM said it must use the interfaces to set prices because its modeling software can only set prices for thermal constraints, not voltage problems.

Bleiweis’ initiative follows objections he raised at the August MIC, in which he said PJM’s efforts to reduce uplift were exacerbating FTR underfunding. (See PJM: Can’t Delay Interface Postings for FTR Auctions.)

On Thursday, PJM’s Joe Ciabattoni said that PJM will attempt to provide one-day notice for subzonal DR but that such notice may not be available for pricing interfaces needed for other reasons. “The potential exists for [pricing interfaces] at all of the 6,000 active constraints,” he said.

Bleiweis said that he wants PJM to formalize its notification procedures in its manuals.

Path Set for Query on Synch Reserve Payments

The MIC agreed to host the initial education session on the Independent Market Monitor’s effort to change compensation for Tier 1 synchronized reserves. The MIC endorsed an issue charge that scheduled the first session as part of the regular MIC meeting and defers a decision on whether to create a subgroup to complete the inquiry.

The MIC approved Market Monitor Joe Bowring’s problem statement last month.

Tier 1 synchronized reserves — all on‐line resources following economic dispatch and able to ramp up at PJM’s request — are paid the Tier 2 synchronized reserve market clearing price whenever the non-synchronized reserve price is more than zero. Bowring said it’s wasteful to pay Tier 1 the same price as Tier 2, because only Tier 2 are subject to penalties for non-performance.

PJM officials said they will likely oppose Bowring’s proposed change, which they said could upset the balance of the RTO’s scarcity pricing scheme. (See Monitor: Cut Pay for Tier 1 Synchronized Reserves.)

Initiative on Replacement Capacity Transactions Set for January

Members approved an issue charge deferring until January the first meeting to discuss Citigroup Energy’s request to change rules regarding the timing for recording replacement capacity transactions. Citigroup’s Barry Trayers said the current procedures, which don’t allow recording of the transactions until after the third incremental auction, create administrative headaches.

The MIC approved Trayers’ problem statement last month. (See MIC Briefs.)

Members Endorse Change on DR Dual Role

Overlapping-Ancillary-Services-and-Load-Management-Example-(Source-PJM-Interconnection-LLC) — (Click to zoom.)

PJM will relieve DR resources of their regulation and synchronized reserve responsibilities during Load Management Events under a change to Manual 11 endorsed by the MIC. The change addresses the inability of DR resources to provide ancillary services and load management simultaneously.

Monthly Seller Credit Eliminated

Members endorsed PJM’s plan to eliminate the “seller credit” provision from its credit policy, which RTO officials said was unnecessary. The provision was begun under monthly billing to allow participants with consistent net sell positions some unsecured credit. Due to changes in credit policy and the 2009 switch to weekly billing, PJM said the need for seller credit is now addressed by the Reliability Pricing Model seller credit, a larger and less volatile credit.

AEP Asks to Split Zone into 4 Settlement Areas

AEP-Operating-Company-Territories-(Source-AEP) — The proposed change does not affect Wheeling Power or Kingsport Power. (Click to zoom.)

American Electric Power asked PJM to split its zone into four energy settlement areas, a change that will affect demand response pricing, real-time load, InSchedule load contracts and auction revenue rights (ARRs).

New aggregates representing the four operating company energy settlement areas will be created.

Hub and interface definitions will not be impacted and the AEP physical transmission zone pricing point will still exist. Capacity and network transmission service will continue to settle at the AEP zone.

AEP has not provided a list of buses defining each of the proposed settlement areas but is required to do so by Dec. 1.

PJM said the following changes will result:

InSchedule load contracts will need to be created identifying the new settlement area.
Any real-time load currently priced at the AEP physical transmission zone will shift to being priced at the applicable operating company load aggregate.
Effective with the 2015/2016 ARR Allocation, load serving entities (LSEs) in the AEP zone will be assigned into one of the four new operating companies based on the location of their load unless the LSE sinks at a nodal location. Each LSE will be assigned a pro-rata amount of capability from each historical generation resource based on its proportion of peak load in the AEP zone. ARR allocations for LSEs not sinking at a nodal location will be assigned as follows: Load in the Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power and Appalachian Power areas will sink at their respective aggregates. Load in the Ohio Power area will sink at the Ohio Power aggregate for Stage 2 only. In Stage 1, load at Ohio Power area will sink at the Ohio Power without MON POWER and the MON POWER Aggregates. The Stage 1 configuration is needed to maintain ARR requests from historical generation for the AEP zone corresponding to the AEP integration reference year (2004).

November 11, 2014June 15, 2023

PJM Operating Committee Briefs

PJM will begin measuring the demand response performance of some residential customers through sampling of interval-meter data under a rule change approved by the Operating Committee Wednesday.

The new procedure will apply to residential customers on non-interval meters and under direct load control of a curtailment service provider. The measurements will be used to evaluate the performance of resources participating in synchronized reserve, economic energy and load management programs.

The sampling would replace outdated studies dating back to 2001. Sampling is a way to improve accuracy without the cost of installing one-minute meters on every participating household, PJM said. The rule would take effect June 1, 2015, with a transition mechanism for resources that cannot meet new requirements for delivery years 2016 through 2018. (See MIC Briefs, Sept. 9.)

The OC approved the proposal with 14 abstentions and 19 objections, 15 from FirstEnergy. FE’s Jim Benchek said PJM shouldn’t take action on the issue given the uncertainty over DR’s role in wholesale markets as a result of the EPSA ruling and FE’s complaint seeking to prevent DR from clearing in capacity markets. (See EPSA Stay Complicates PJM’s 2015 Capacity Auction Plans.)

Benchek said the change represents a “carve out” for residences while generators must use interval meters. “If we make an exception here, where does it stop?” he asked. “They should have interval metering like anyone else if they want to sell synchronized reserves.”

Consultant Tom Rutigliano of Achieving Equilibrium said the committee’s action will have no impact on the ultimate fate of DR in wholesale markets, which may be decided by the Supreme Court. To avoid legal problems, PJM has proposed eliminating DR as a capacity supply resource, suggesting load-serving entities instead offer DR and energy efficiency to reduce their capacity obligations.

“This is still just a good measurement technique, no matter who’s doing DR,” Rutigliano said.

Day-Ahead Scheduling Reserve Set at 5.93%; Winter Reserve: 27%

The OC endorsed PJM’s recommendation to set the 2015 day-ahead scheduling reserve requirement at 5.93%, down from 6.27% in 2014. The new requirement is based on a load forecast error of 2.15% (up 0.04% from 2014) and a forced outage rate of 3.78% (down 0.38%). The changes will be reflected in Manual 13: Emergency Operations.

The committee also endorsed PJM’s proposed 2014/15 winter reserve target of 27%, unchanged from last winter. The 27% target, a percentage of the forecasted weekly peak load, is based on unit summer ratings.

PJM’s Tom Falin said the target does not include data from January 2014. “When we get to extreme conditions, I don’t know how binding this is anyway,” Falin said, noting that PJM would cancel maintenance outages if it anticipated a generation shortage. He said there were about 1,000 MW on maintenance on PJM’s all-time winter peak day in January.

TOs Asked to Update Load Dump Ratings

PJM is asking transmission owners to revise their ratings methodology to address facilities for which the long-term emergency (LTE) ratings are equal to the load dump (LD) measures.

TOs that are unable to make the changes through PJM’s rating methodology guideline should reduce the LTE rating by 3% of the LD rating. PJM wants the changes made by Dec. 1 so that it can determine their impacts on markets and planning before the revised ratings take effect June 1.

Concern over facilities with identical ratings arose as a result of the September 2013 hot-weather event, when PJM discovered that the normal, emergency and LD ratings on the Industrial-Summit 138-kV line were the same. “The impact of all the ratings being the same is there is no time for the dispatcher to perform anything but the most extreme action that must be taken once the load dump rating is reached,” PJM said in its heat wave analysis.

No Votes Gained on Interchange Volatility

A working group meeting last week failed to win any converts to PJM’s plans to limit interchange volatility, OC Chairman Mike Bryson said.

A Markets and Reliability Committee vote last month on PJM’s proposal to limit interchange during emergency conditions fell just short of a two-thirds approval. (See PJM MRC OKs Change on Reserves; Interchange Limit Falls Short.)

The Energy and Reserve Pricing & Interchange Volatility Sub-Group met on the issue last Tuesday in an attempt to reach consensus. “We tried to beat some votes out of people, but it didn’t really work,” Bryson said.

November 11, 2014June 15, 2023

State Briefs

Judge Rules Energy Future Can Auction its Oncor Holdings

A state bankruptcy court judge has ruled that Energy Future Holdings can begin accepting bids for its majority stake in Texas transmission company Oncor.

Energy Future, which has declared bankruptcy, is selling off its 80% share in Oncor, which has 120,000 miles of transmission lines and 3 million residential customers in Texas. The winning bidder will then have the right to own that equity when Energy Future exits bankruptcy.

According to Reuters, expected bidders include NextEra Energy, Hunt Consolidated of Dallas and CenterPoint Energy, also of Dallas. Energy Future’s stake is estimated to be worth about $18 billion.

More: Reuters

ILLINOIS

Fracking Rules to be Unveiled Soon, Permit Rush Expected to Follow

The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules last week took a final step toward setting rules to govern fracking in the state.

The committee approved the regulations after months of public hearings, comments and committee work. The exact rules are expected to be released to the public Nov. 15. Until then, outside parties — environmental groups, energy companies and local governments — are in the dark.

“We don’t know if our concerns have been taken into account because we don’t know what changes were made,” said Jack Darin, director of the state chapter of the Sierra Club. The rules are likely to face legal challenges.

Unveiling the rules is expected to spur initial permit applications, local public hearings and test well drilling. The Department of Natural Resources has hired 32 people to help with the initial application process.

More: The Chicago Tribune (subscription required)

INDIANA

Commissioners Get Answers on IPL’s August Blasts, Blackout

Indianapolis Power and Light officials told state regulators last week that the utility will spend $15 million in the next three to five years to replace 137 aging underground circuit breakers that were linked to a network failure in August.

At a hearing held by the Utility Regulatory Commission, the utility said the sounds of a series of underground network disruptions that shook Indianapolis in August were not explosions but the sound of tripping circuit breakers. Those circuit breakers, some dating to the 1950s, were identified as a problem in 2011. Since then, IPL has replaced 10 of the 58 aging breakers that were shown to be susceptible to corrosion.

IPL said that within 30 days it would submit a plan to the IURC to replace 137 vulnerable breakers.

More: WISH-TV

MICHIGAN

Proposed Law Would Protect Large Wind Farm Operators

The state Senate is considering two bills that would limit nuisance lawsuits against operators of industrial wind turbines by exempting operations that are in compliance with state and local regulations. One measure would impose a “loser pay” requirement on plaintiffs who do not prevail.

“There are a number of lawsuits being filed and families being paid damages,” said state Sen. Howard Walker, author of the bills. “When that happens, the additional costs are passed on to the ratepayers. To me, this is a property rights issue. If someone is complying with local ordinances and state law, I believe they have the right to harvest wind energy on their property.”

Some wind opponents were displeased. “Wind development is becoming much harder to sell to rural communities,” said Kevon Martis of the Interstate Informed Citizens Coalition. “Turbines are no longer a novelty. They are pervasive and wind developers are having a much harder time convincing people that 50- or 60-story tall turbines are scarcely noticeable in our quiet farming communities.”

More: Michigan Capitol Confidential

NEW JERSEY

Pipeline Company Threatens to Sue Homeowners Who Deny Access

A company planning to build a petroleum products pipeline through the state’s north is threatening property owners who deny access to surveyors, but some environmental groups say that Pilgrim Pipeline doesn’t have that right.

A homeowner in Parsippany received a letter from Pilgrim saying their representatives had the right to go on the property for surveys, and if refused access, Pilgrim would go to court to force the issue. The letter said that Pilgrim is a “pipeline company established under New Jersey law” with the “power to condemn private property.” Because of that, Pilgrim’s consultants have “the ability to enter on private land to perform surveys and investigations,” the letter read.

Not so fast, say environmental groups. “It’s wrong legally, it’s wrong factually,” said Aaron Kleinbaum, legal director of the Eastern Environmental Law Center. “They do not have the right to go onto private property without permission.” Pilgrim has proposed a 178-mile pipeline to carry refined products such as gasoline, diesel and heating oil from the New York Harbor to upstate New York.

More: NorthJersey.com

BPU Chief Counsel Joins McCarter & English

Tricia Caliguire, a former energy and environmental policy advisor to Gov. Chris Christie and the chief counsel for the Board of Public Utilities, is leaving government and returning to private law practice.

Caliguire, who has been with the BPU since 2012, will specialize in energy, utility and environmental matters as special counsel in McCarter & English’s Newark office. She started her law career with McCarter & English in 1987.

More: NJBiz

NORTH CAROLINA

Commission Proposes Surprise Inspections

A state Mining and Energy Commission report proposes allowing unannounced inspections at oil and gas drilling sites. It was just one of the recommendations culled from nearly 220,000 public comments on draft rules. The surprise inspection rule was developed to remove language that would have mandated notice to site operators.

The report, prepared by three of the 14 commission members, also suggested a minimum setback of 1,500 feet to each oil or gas well, tank, tank battery, pit or production facility from the edge of any waterway that leads to a drinking water supply.

The proposals will go to the full commission for a vote and then to the legislature during its January session.

More: News & Record

OHIO

Recycling Plant Partner in Default on Construction Payments

A private developer building a project to remove recyclable material from trash and to produce energy from landfill waste has defaulted on payments, putting the project in jeopardy.

The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio said Florida-based Team Gemini, which was to build a recyclables sorting and recovery facility at the Franklin County landfill, is more than $1.1 million behind in construction payments and hasn’t paid its $342,850 rent.

Team Gemini is under contract to complete the facility by June 2016. The plant would be powered by a generation station fueled by the landfill’s organic waste. The authority can pull out of the project if Team Gemini doesn’t come up with the payments within 60 days.

More: The Columbus Dispatch

3 out of 4 Towns Reject Anti-Fracking Laws

Voters in three of four towns rejected anti-fracking measures on their ballots in last week’s election.

About 58% of voters in Youngstown rejected a measure to ban oil and gas drilling, the fourth time an anti-fracking measure was rejected in the northeast city. The towns of Kent and Gates Mills also rejected anti-drilling measures.

Only voters in Athens, home of Ohio University, supported a measure prohibiting fracking for shale gas and oil. The “Community Bill of Rights and Water Supply Protection Ordinance” passed with 78% of the vote. (See related story, GOP Majority Unlikely to Thwart EPA Carbon Plan.)

More: Midwest Energy News

PENNSYLVANIA

PGW Sale to UIL Holdings May Still be Alive, Mayor Says

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter’s administration is still campaigning to keep alive a $1.86 billion sale of the city’s gas utility to UIL Holdings, despite the city council’s refusal to take up the measure.

“The mayor is ever an optimist and is hopeful that before the end of the year, we will have had a bill introduced, hearings and a vote from City Council on PGW [Philadelphia Gas Works] and the sale to UIL,” said Mark McDonald, Nutter’s press secretary. Council President Darrell L. Clarke announced abruptly on Oct. 27 that the city’s legislative body would not consider the proposal.

The mayor’s office released a document last week offering a point-by-point rebuttal of criticisms of the privatization. The deal expires by year’s end if not approved by council.

The Public Utility Commission will hold a hearing to discuss PGW’s future this week, and UIL CEO James P. Torgerson said his company will decide soon whether it will continue to pursue the deal, on which it has already spent $21.3 million. “We’re going to see how things go over the next few days, and then we’ll make some decisions on that,” he said during an analysts call.

More: Philadelphia Business Journal; The Philadelphia Inquirer

DEP Revises Rule to Require Use of RACT Systems

The state Department of Environmental Protection has revised a rule it proposed in April to limit emissions from coal-fired power plants that was widely criticized by environmental groups and deemed “too lax” by federal environmental regulators.

The new proposed final rule requires the state’s more than two dozen coal-fired power plants to install and operate Reasonably Available Control Technology to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.

Critics said DEP’s April proposal would have allowed many of the power plants to operate without turning those controls on and emit up to 40% more pollutants.

More: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

WEST VIRGINIA

Former Sen. Brooks McCabe Tapped for PSC Vacancy

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin picked state Sen. Brooks McCabe, who did not run for re-election this year, to one of three seats on the Public Service Commission.

McCabe, a Democrat, fills a vacancy on the three-member commission created when Ryan Palmer departed to join the Federal Communications Commission. McCabe must resign his Senate seat before joining the commission Nov. 15.

A veteran of the commercial and investment real estate industry, McCabe pursued economic growth and development for the state. He has served on the Senate Committees on Finance, Economic Development, Pensions, Banking and Insurance and Government Organization.

More: The State Journal

WISCONSIN

PSC Approves 83% Fixed Charge Increase for Wisconsin Public Service Customers

The Public Service Commission allowed Wisconsin Public Service to nearly double its fixed monthly customer fee, approving an approach that utilities are pursuing to get low-usage customers like those with solar panels to pay more of the costs of maintaining the distribution system.

The measure, approved by a 2-1 vote, will raise the fixed charge from $10.40 to $19 a month. The increase in the fixed charge is offset by a decrease in the energy charge, resulting in an overall hike of about 3%. Fixed charges go toward paying for a company’s fixed costs, such as poles, wires and substations.Consumer advocates and solar supporters criticized the PSC’s vote. “The decision takes the step that most helps utilities at the expense of customers,” said Kira Loehr, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board. “Increasing fixed charges hurts our most vulnerable low and fixed income households and frustrates residential and small business customers’ ability to lower their bills by using less energy.”

The commission has yet to rule on similar requests from other utilities. We Energies wants a 75% increase and Madison Gas & Electric is seeking an 82% jump.

More: Journal Sentinel

November 11, 2014June 15, 2023

PJM Planning Committee Briefs

pjm — The revised methodology (blue line) results in a reduction from the current forecast (green line).

PJM is testing a new load forecasting model to reverse a marked “degradation” in forecast accuracy.

The model being tested accounts for factors such as appliance saturation and energy efficiency that were previously not included, PJM’s Andrew Gledhill told the Planning Committee last week.

The new model’s “equipment indices” improved near-term forecast accuracy but caused an increase in instability because the forecasts of appliance saturation and efficiency change over time. The forecasts are made by Itron based on data from the Energy Information Administration. “The understanding of where we’ve been and where we’re going has had a tendency to change over time,” Gledhill said.

Officials said it was difficult to determine the model’s long-term forecast accuracy because of data limitations.

PJM is investigating incorporating the equipment indices into its peak-load model. One concern: Will accounting for these trends in the peak model result in an overlap with energy efficiency as a capacity market resource?

PJM previously considered shortening the estimation period but found that it created anomalies. The current forecast uses an estimation period of 1998 to the previous August. PJM found that while a three-year-ahead forecast resulted in a 0.6% reduction for the RTO, some zones increased by as much as 9% while others dropped 6% or more.

PSEG Seeks Injection Rights for PARs

The Planning Committee Tuesday approved PSEG Energy Resources & Trade’s problem statement to consider awarding firm withdrawal and injection rights to transmission projects employing phase angle regulators (PARs).

PJM awards withdrawal and injection rights to controllable AC and DC merchant transmission facilities using only variable frequency technology, which excludes PARs.

PSEG said PJM’s interpretation “creates an impediment to the development of a class of controllable merchant transmission projects that could efficiently address seams issues between PJM” and neighboring regions. Because PAR projects are not awarded rights, “it will be difficult if not impossible for PARs-based projects to be deemed deliverable” for sales of capacity or energy, PSEG said.

GMD Reliability Standard Struggling to Win Support

The North American Electric Reliability Corp. is struggling to win support for its reliability standard on geomagnetic disturbances, PJM’s Frank Koza told the PC last week. Two rounds of voting have failed to gain the two-thirds support needed to endorse the standard for review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The most recent vote won support of only 58% of stakeholders, and a third vote will be taken this month, Koza said. “We need to turn about 25 votes around,” he said.

The standard requires reliability coordinators and some transmission operators to institute operational procedures to mitigate the effect of GMDs.

NERC is working on stage two of the standard, in which it must determine what severity GMD will constitute a “benchmark” GMD event. Covered entities will be required to assess the potential impact of such benchmark events on their equipment and systems. FERC required NERC to complete the standard by January. (See FERC OKs GMD, Training Standards; Proposes Modeling Rule Change.)

November 11, 2014

What We Don’t Know Can Hurt You

Commentary by Rich Heidorn Jr.

This is the space where we would have told you what happened at the PJM Board of Managers’ Enhanced Liaison Committee meeting Tuesday.

The subject of the meeting was PJM’s Capacity Performance proposal, by far the biggest, most expensive set of rule changes the RTO has considered in the nearly two years that RTO Insider has been providing stakeholder coverage.

While more than 300 stakeholders and state representatives attended the meeting or listened in by phone, the press and public were explicitly excluded under PJM rules that also bar attendees from sharing what they heard.

That is a disservice to our thousands of readers and to the 61 million people served by PJM, who will pay for whatever changes the board proposes and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves.

We are happy that most PJM members have become accustomed to the presence of a reporter in their meetings over the last two years. Many have acknowledged the pains we have taken to ensure we quote members fairly and in context.

We hope that the members and the board will change the rules and extend this laudable transparency to future Liaison Committee meetings.

November 11, 2014June 15, 2023

Federal Briefs

The Department of Energy says coal stockpiles at power plants around the country are lower than normal at this time of year, and that plant operators are scrambling to obtain deliveries for winter.

The Energy Information Administration said substantial draw-down during last winter, combined with challenges getting deliveries over rail routes congested with shipments of grain and petroleum products, is leaving some operators nervous about getting enough for this heating season.

“Issues with delivery by rail are making it more difficult to ship larger volumes of coal and rebuild stockpiles at coal-fired power plants,” the EIA said. At the end of August, 23% of coal plants had less than 30 days’ supply, compared to 13% last year.

More: The Hill; Energy Information Administration

LaFleur Says FERC will not be Part of EPA Rulemaking

Federal Energy Regulatory Chairman Cheryl LaFleur said her agency won’t be overly involved in discussions about the Environmental Protection Agency’s rules on emissions. “I don’t see a role for FERC in telling EPA what to write in the rule,” she said.

“We should have a reliability consideration of some kind in the Clean Power Plan,” she said. “Protecting reliability isn’t optional — the lights are going to stay on — so that that should somehow be built into the process seems to make sense.”

More: Roll Call

TVA Executive is Highest Paid Fed Employee, and Getting a Raise

The federal government’s highest paid employee just got a raise.

Tennessee Valley Authority increased the salary of its chief executive, Bill Johnson, from $950,000 to $995,000. His total compensation package, nearly $6 million last year, could increase to as much as $7 million next year.

Some critics decried the compensation, with a spokesman for Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.) calling it “ridiculous.” But TVA Board Chairman Joe Ritch defended Johnson’s pay package and said it is in line with compensation for comparable utility executives.

“We could go get someone for much less,” Ritch said. “But in my view, we are still underpaying our CEO.” The agency, with 12,000 employees, is heavily indebted, and Johnson, a former Duke Energy executive, is heading up a team that is aiming at cutting operating costs by $500 million by the end of next year.

More: Nashville Public Radio; Times Free Press

NRC Increases Oversight at Exelon’s Peach Bottom Plant

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued Exelon’s Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station an “escalated enforcement action” after observing a security violation during an NRC inspection in May.

An inspection found a problem with an electronic security device at the dry cask storage facility, the NRC said. Exelon fixed the problem, the details of which were not disclosed. Exelon was not fined, but the commission “will be looking at doing a fairly extensive inspection … next year to look at their dry cask storage problem,” according to an NRC spokesman.

The violation is the latest NRC enforcement escalation taken against Exelon, the nation’s largest nuclear operator. The NRC ordered heightened inspections at Peach Bottom after security guards were caught sleeping in 2007. In June it cited security problems at Exelon’s Limerick Generating Station, and the agency issued a “white” finding against its Calvert Cliffs plant after an instrumentation malfunction was discovered in March.

More: York Daily Record

Former NRC Chairman Selected for Duke Energy Board of Directors

Richard Meserve, the former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has been elected to Duke Energy’s board of directors.

He will become the 16th member of the Duke board, pending approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He also sits on the board of directors at Pacific Gas & Electric. Meserve left the NRC in 1999 and became chairman of the Carnegie Institution for Science.

“Richard Meserve’s extensive experience in science and environmental issues makes him a strong addition to Duke Energy’s board,” Duke Chairman Ann Gray said.

More: Charlotte Business Journal

November 11, 2014June 15, 2023

PJM Members Approve Intraday Updates to Generator Cost Schedules

Beginning in January, gas generators will be able to change their offers to reflect fluctuating fuel prices, under a proposal approved by the Operating Committee last week.

The proposal would allow generators to lock in their fuel prices three hours in advance of the operating hour.

“It’s not a perfect solution,” PJM’s Chantal Hendrzak acknowledged during a briefing of the Market Implementation Committee Friday. “For right now, we think this would be better than what we have today, where we lock prices at 1800 [the day before] and there’s no way to change.”

Hendrzak said PJM’s security constrained economic dispatch (SCED) engine does not recognize an end to a price schedule. The three-hour “lockout” is necessary to give the engine time to produce the dispatch stack.

The changes are the result of work by the Gas Unit Commitment Coordination (GUCC) group within the Operating Committee.

The Operating Committee approved the new policy Thursday despite abstentions from Dayton Power and Light and PPL, and objections from Dominion Resources and American Electric Power. Dominion’s Louis Slade said that while his company agrees with the increased offer flexibility, he objected because PJM had not given members advance notice of the Manual 11 changes involved.

The OC will hold a conference call at 3 p.m. Nov. 12 to discuss the changes in advance of a Nov. 20 vote by the Markets and Reliability Committee.

PJM’s vendor is expected to deliver the required software changes in December. PJM is planning to put the changes into production in January. The new procedures will be explained during the winter-weather procedure changes webinar Nov. 24.

For a long-term solution, Hendrzak said PJM is considering the technology used by ISO-NE. Beginning in December, the ISO will allow generators to change pricing by hour in the day-ahead market and change real-time offers until 30 minutes before the operating hour. “We know we’re not done yet,” Hendrzak said.

The MIC also received a briefing from Market Monitor Joe Bowring on how generators should submit their fuel cost policies through Monitoring Analytics’ new member-information-reporting application (MIRA) tool.

The Monitor uses the fuel cost policies to review cost-based offers submitted by generation owners. The policy must specify the source of the generator’s fuel cost input. Allowable sources are:

Verifiable contract or spot price.
Verifiable hub/pricing point (index).
Verifiable fuel cost source (i.e., Platts, ICE, broker).
Verifiable delivery/transportation charge.

November 11, 2014June 15, 2023

FERC Staff Accuses Maxim Power of Cheating ISO-NE

By Ted Caddell

The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week accused a Canadian independent power producer of misrepresenting the output of its three New England generators and its cost of fuel in schemes that the staff says netted the company millions in inflated payments.

FERC issued a Staff Notice of Alleged Violations (NAV) last week naming Calgary-based Maxim Power Corp., its CEO, John Bobenic, and Kyle Mitton, director of corporate development, as the targets of its investigation.

The NAV indicates that FERC enforcement staff has completed its investigation. Most FERC enforcement cases that become public are quickly settled. If Maxim declines to settle, the next step may be a commission vote on whether to issue an Order to Show Cause.

In May, Maxim disclosed to investors that FERC had accused the company of receiving unjust gains of $23 million. The company said it repaid about $3 million in 2010 through “the ISO-NE mitigation program.”

FERC staff alleges that Maxim collected “millions of dollars of inflated make-whole payments” from ISO-NE between 2012 and 2013 by gaming an ISO rule intended to mitigate the market power of generators needed for reliability. The notice did not elaborate on how this was allegedly done.

In a second alleged scheme in July and August 2010, Maxim submitted offers it said were based on high oil prices because it couldn’t procure enough natural gas. FERC says the company collected make-whole payments based on the oil price but actually burned cheaper natural gas and pocketed the difference. “In many cases Maxim had already purchased gas when it submitted day-ahead offers based on oil prices,” FERC said.

In the third allegation, FERC said that Maxim collected inflated capacity payments between 2010 and 2013 by using “extraordinary measures” to boost the output of its three New England plants during testing. It said that the “extraordinary measures” were used only during the tests, and that Maxim never intended to use those methods during normal operations.

FERC offered no details on what those measures were. There are several ways of temporarily boosting the output of gas-fired generating plants, including disconnecting emissions controls and using different fuel-air mixtures.

Maxim officials did not respond to requests for comment yesterday. In a news release last week, the company said it is cooperating with FERC’s inquiry and stressed that a NAV “is not a determination by FERC that any violation has occurred.”

“Maxim intends to vigorously defend itself before FERC or a federal district court and is confident it can demonstrate that the conduct set forth in the notice did not violate FERC’s anti-manipulation rule or any other rule.”

ISO-NE spokeswoman Marcia Blomberg told RTO Insider “we support FERC investigations by providing information to the commission, but we don’t discuss market enforcement activities publicly.”

Maxim operates three plants in the ISO-NE region: CDECCA, a 62-MW cogeneration plant in Hartford, Conn.; Pawtucket Power, a 63.5-MW cogeneration plant in Pawtucket, R.I.; and a 181-MW natural gas-fired plant in Pittsfield, Mass.

In total, the company owns and operates 39 power plants in Alberta, the U.S. and France, with a combined 777 MW of capacity. Its other U.S. plants are the Basin Creek natural gas-fired plant in Montana and a simple cycle 87-MW plant in Forked River, N.J.

The company, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange, reported $10.6 million in net income on $173.7 million in revenue for 2013.

CEO John R. Bobenic, an accountant, joined Maxim in October 2000 after stints at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. and TransAlta. He is a past vice chair of the Independent Power Producers Society of Alberta.

New York/New England Correspondent William Opalka contributed to this article.