In a Guidance Order issued on August 27, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) provided guidance on how the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and the Regional Entities responsible for the enforcement of mandatory Reliability Standards should assess repeated violations By the same or affiliated companies. The Commission expressed concern that NERC and the Regional Entities have not sufficiently considered repeated violations as an aggravating factor in approving monetary sanctions. To address this concern, the Commission provided new guidance that broadens the category of what will be considered a “repetitive” violation of a Reliability Standard in the future. As a result, the compliance risk presented By many Reliability Standards, particularly those dependent on human judgments and procedures, will significantly increase. Read more…