FERC affirmed its June order reducing the return on equity for the NETOs, ordering the companies to provide refunds from Oct. 1, 2011.

FERC ordered an evidentiary hearing on a complaint from MISO industrial customers that the 24 transmission owners’ base ROE is unjust and unreasonable.

PSEG, AEP and FirstEnergy are among the utilities with the greatest risk of seeing their transmission rates decline as a result of FERC’s new formula for determining returns on equity, according to a new report.

FERC agreed to change the way it calculates returns on equity rates for electric utilities but split over its first application of the new formula in a case involving New England transmission owners.