On March 17, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) issued an order denying rehearing of Order No. 743, in which the Commission had directed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to modify its definition of “bulk electric system,” which serves to identify those entities subject to mandatory Reliability Standards. While the Commission explained that a new definition was needed to remove the discretion granted to Regional Entities under the existing definition, the Commission stressed that NERC need not implement the 100 kV bright-line proposal put forward By FERC in Order No. 743 but could exercise its discretion and technical expertise to propose an alternative method for defining “bulk electric system,” so long as it was “consistent, repeatable, and verifiable with supporting technical analysis.”