In an admonishing response letter issued December 8, US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry granted the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) request for a 30-day extension to consider final action on its Proposed Grid Reliability and Resiliency Pricing Rules. The proposed rules, if adopted, could provide economic support to coal and nuclear generation in organized markets.
FERC had emphasized in its request that extra time is needed to provide adequate opportunity for recently sworn-in Chairman Kevin J. McIntyre and Commissioner Richard Glick to consider the voluminous record in the proceeding that includes more than 1,500 comments in response to FERC’s solicitation for public comment on the proposed rules. Mr. Perry granted FERC’s request while noting in his letter that, as explained in his original directive, failure to act expeditiously within a 60-day timeframe would be unjust, unreasonable, and contrary to the public interest. Given the circumstances highlighted by FERC, he agreed to allow FERC to take final action by Wednesday, January 10, 2018. Despite granting the request, Mr. Perry strongly urged FERC to act before the deadline to ensure the “resilience and security of the electric grid.”