The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has upheld its order No. 1000 – Reforms to Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation – finding that existing requirements are inadequate and threaten to thwart the development of transmission that is more efficient or cost-effective for users of the grid.
Order No. 1000 reforms FERC's electric transmission planning and cost-allocation requirements for public utility transmission providers. The rule builds on the reforms of order No. 890 and corrects the remaining deficiencies with respect to transmission planning processes and cost-allocation methods, according to the commission.
FERC's decision denies rehearing of the July 2011 final rule establishing minimum criteria that a transmission planning process must satisfy, including general principles for cost-allocation methods. These transmission planning requirements involve the development of regional plans, consideration of transmission needs driven by public policy requirements established by state or federal laws or regulations, and coordination between pairs of neighboring transmission planning regions.
With this latest decision, FERC also affirms its actions in Order No. 1000 to promote competition in regional transmission planning by removing from commission-approved tariffs and agreements any federal right of first refusal for transmission facilities selected in a regional transmission plan for purposes of cost allocation, subject to certain limitations.
