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Lessons from a Bad Omen

12/20/2023

1 Comment

 
The Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, or PATH project died yesterday.  It was nobody's friend at the end.  I don't think anyone is going to miss it, even PATH itself.  It's been an albatross around everyone's neck, including mine, ever since FERC decided to second-guess itself on the matter in 2020.

An uncontested settlement was filed at FERC on November 17 that created a lump sum refund for PJM ratepayers of $9.5M.  The refund came as a result of the DC Circuit Opinion back in 2021 that determined PATH's advocacy and advertising costs should not have been collected from ratepayers.  Also included in the lump sum was a final accounting for money due under PATH's formula rate.  The settlement also provides for the cancellation of PATH's formula rate and cancellation of the companies themselves.  In several months, PATH will be nothing but a bad dream and a lightness in your wallet.

Because FERC had failed to act (again) on the DC Circuit remand and a paper hearing FERC opened on PATH's return on equity in 2020, the parties to the long-running formula rate and abandonment cases took it upon themselves to ink out a deal and present it to FERC for approval.  FERC allowed PATH to begin collecting money for its project beginning in 2008, and it won't stop collecting until 2024.  That's 16 years.  Much of that time came courtesy of an overworked and tone-deaf FERC simply ignoring the issues PATH created for years on end.  Two years to grant our formal challenges, 3 more years to get them to hearing, 2 more years to issue an order, 3 more years to grant rehearing and do a 180 on FERC's first decision, only a year at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals straightening that out, and then 2 more years before the settling parties, including yours truly, finally pulled the plug to short circuit another long period of waiting for FERC to act.  To its credit, FERC jumped right on the settlement when it was presented and approved it yesterday, just a mere month after it was filed.  But why did it take us doing FERC's job for them to get this resolved?

Yesterday, a public shaming of PATH, utilities, PJM, and FERC itself came courtesy of FERC Commissioner Mark Christie during the monthly Commission meeting.  You can watch it here beginning at minute 13:48 and ending at 18:24.  Just five minutes of your time to get the satisfaction you've been seeking for 16 years.  I love a happy ending like this!  PATH was a terrible idea that has caused harm to consumers.
Commissioner Christie also issued a written statement to append to the Commission's Letter Order approving the PATH settlement.  You can read it here.
Christie used PATH as a reason to take issue with FERC's overly generous incentives, formula rates, and long-term planning for transmission that is purposed to serve needs that never materialize.

Commissioner Christie has been on the warpath against certain overly-generous FERC incentives, issuing strongly worded statements in 13 cases over the past 2 years (all footnoted in yesterday's statement).  He pointed out that FERC has opened several proceedings to investigate and change the Commission's incentive rules since 2019, but still has not managed to conclude those proceedings (PL19-3, RM20-10).  Christie also noted that the Commission proposed discontinuing the CWIP incentive in its also pending Rulemaking on Transmission Planning (Docket RM21-17).

A highly politicized FERC means the agency can't get anything done and has found itself at a standoff over many issues over the past 8 years.  Commissioner Christie stands alone as the most consumer-focused Commissioner FERC has ever had.  He has tirelessly fought for consumers and will continue to do so.  Commissioner Christie came to FERC from the Virginia State Corporation Commission in 2021, and will serve until 2025.  We need more commissioners like Christie, who have a history of serving at state utility commissions, and less Commissioners from the political and special interest realms that have dominated appointments over the past 8 years.  FERC needs to go back to its  function as an impartial regulator, not a political vehicle for the policies of the administration in charge.  Sadly, I don't see things changing much in 2024.  

Commissioner Christie used yesterday's PATH settlement as a lesson and a warning, referring to it as an "omen" of more bad things to come if FERC's policies are not reformed.  He used PATH as an example of how these different policies come together to create zombie projects that can pick ratepayer pockets for decades.  According to Christie, PATH was originally part of Project Mountaineer, a PJM scheme to import electricity to eastern load centers from the Ohio River Valley's massive fleet of coal-fired generators.  Once PJM approved PATH and added the project to its regional plan, that turned on the money spigots.  Thanks to FERC's overly-generous award of every incentive possible and its use of formula rates, PATH began collecting its costs from ratepayers in 2008, during its development and permitting stage.  The Commission's policies allowed PATH to continue to collect its costs during the long period between PJM's approval and state regulatory approval.  Although PATH never received any state approval, and nothing was ever built, its formula rate continued to recover costs from consumers, even after PJM abandoned the project in 2012.  PATH is still collecting a cool million (or more) from consumers every year to this day.  The Commission's approval of the settlement yesterday shuts off the money spigot... finally.

Commissioner Christie cautioned against making long-term transmission plans based on today's generation choices. PATH demonstrates that those choices can change quickly, although the transmission projects set in motion to achieve them cannot.  It was wise advice to a Commission that is poised to pass new long-term transmission planning rules in 2024 based on today's generation choices of wind and solar.  The Commission needs to think carefully about saddling consumers with the cost of new transmission that could become obsolete before it is even built, such as PJM's recent slate of projects for the purpose of importing fossil fuel electricity to Virginia's data centers from the Ohio Valley.  PJM has acknowledged that new wind and solar additions are not keeping up with fossil fuel generator retirements in its eastern regions, but yet the generators keep closing and the data centers keep being built.  Something has to change, or the lights are going to go out.  PJM chose to approve a bunch of new PATH projects from the west, including the NextEra/FirstEnergy project from southwest Pennsylvania to Loudoun County.

We should all heed Commissioner Christie's warning, and support needed changes to FERC's incentives and transmission policy choices.  A group of consumers filed comments on FERC's transmission planning rulemaking back in 2021.  Check out the discussion of the PATH project beginning on page 21.
rm21-17_reply_comments_final.pdf
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This is the same history lesson Commissioner Christie taught yesterday.  Christie said the PATH debacle has cost consumers nearly a quarter of a billion dollars over the past 15 years... all for nothing.  Christie quoted what Willy Loman’s wife Linda said in Death of a Salesman, "attention must be paid."  Let's hope proper attention is paid to the demise of PATH.  I, for one, won't miss it.  It frees up my time to pay attention to things ahead, such as the new PATH-like projects recently approved by PJM.

Let the funeral dirge play... we beat you, PATH.  We beat you BAD.
1 Comment

What Will Be On New PJM Lines?

8/25/2023

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PJM Interconnection is the grid planner for the Mid-Atlantic region.  PJM's job is to keep the grid reliable and the electricity markets competitive.  When load increases in PJM's region without a corresponding increase in generation of electricity, reliability suffers.  When reliability is threatened, PJM springs into action and plans new transmission to solve the impending crisis.  If PJM did not act, we'd soon experience brown outs and black outs and the whole PJM system would crash.  The most logical solution for PJM would be to order new generation near sources of increased load.  However, PJM cannot order new generation, it can only order new transmission.  Electric generation is a market-based, competitive endeavor.  If demand increases prices in a certain load pocket, then the generation market receives a signal that it would be profitable for new generation to build for that load.  It works, in theory, but sadly not in practice.  PJM's  reliability focused transmission planners never let the market work to spur new generation.  When prices increase, or reliability issues crop up on the horizon, PJM orders new transmission to solve the problem before any new generators are even contemplated.  PJM complains about the loss of baseload generation without replacement, but fails to acknowledge its own role in creating the problem.

Over the past decade or so, Northern Virginia has become the data center capital of the country.  Data centers use a LOT of electricity.  This recent article says that Amazon data centers in Northern Virginia use half as much electricity as New York City every day, and 35% more than the entire power grid of the company's hometown city of Seattle.  That's a huge electric load currently being built out in Northern Virginia without a corresponding increase in electric generation.  PJM says the data centers are creating a reliability issue and it has opened a request for proposals to solve it using transmission.  The goal is to export a whole bunch of electricity to Northern Virginia, and PJM's utility members wasted no time in creating new transmission lines that would connect the generators they own to Northern Virginia.
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One such proposal from FirstEnergy envisions two new 500kV lines from West Virginia to a substation in Frederick County, Maryland.  Other utilities have proposed new lines from that substation to Northern Virginia, completing the new extension cords.

Extension cords are exactly what these new transmission lines are.  They plug in at struggling FirstEnergy-owned electric generators in West Virginia and provide a pathway for additional electricity generated in West Virginia to power the data centers in Northern Virginia.

The map shows the northern line of this proposal beginning at Fort Martin, West Virginia.  Fort Martin is the location of FirstEnergy's coal-fired Ft. Martin Power Station.
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The plant uses more than 2.8 million tons of coal annually and at full capacity the plant’s generating units can produce more than 26 million kilowatt-hours of electricity daily.  Read more here. 

Of course, nobody wants coal-fired electricity any more and FirstEnergy has been toying with closing or selling some of these plants.  And then the PJM serendipity fairy arrived!  PJM needs transmission to bring a new supply of power to No. Va., and FirstEnergy can bolster the future economic success of its failing generators by connecting it to data center load.  And FirstEnergy's proposal was born.

The southern line of FirstEnergy's proposal is shown on the map as beginning at Pruntytown, WV.  Pruntytown is a gigantic substation where many electric generators in the area connect to the grid.  One such plant is FirstEnergy's Harrison Power Station in Haywood, West Virginia.

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Harrison uses more than five million tons of coal annually and at full capacity the plant’s generating units can produce over 47 million kilowatt-hours of electricity daily.  Read more about Harrison here.  FirstEnergy's bottom line wins again with this proposal!

But did anyone ask Northern Virginia if they wanted to import dirty coal-fired electricity from West Virginia to power their data centers?  PJM?  FirstEnergy?  Dominion?  These entities are going to have a really hard time selling this to a community with clean energy goals and aspirations.  The D.C. metro area is so worried about climate change that they have closed many fossil fuel generators in their own neighborhoods.  Why would these people just look the other way and shrug about increasing their carbon footprint every time they turn on the light switch?  Would local governments in Northern Virginia keep approving new data centers that need power if they knew they were increasing regional air pollution?  Where's the tipping point here?

In addition to the burning of more coal to produce more electricity in West Virginia, FirstEnergy's proposals also plan on hundreds of miles of new transmission rights of way across private property between West Virginia and Northern Virginia.  None of these affected landowners need this new electric supply.  It's simply passing through on its way to corporate users in D.C.'s growing urban sprawl.

Of course, FirstEnergy's proposal is only one of 72 that PJM received.  Other utilities have proposed connecting their nuclear and gas fired power stations in south eastern Pennsylvania to the data center load via new transmission lines.  Numerous proposals begin at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Delta, PA and the gas-fired York Energy Center in the same town.  Still other proposals want to connect the data center load to American Electric Power's massive 765kV transmission system in the Ohio Valley, where numerous fossil fuel plants are struggling to survive.  See the 765 lines on this map:

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The endpoint of AEP's 765kV system in Virginia is at a substation called Joshua Falls.  New lines beginning at Joshua Falls connect to the data center load as shown on this proposal map submitted to PJM by AEP subsidiary Transource.
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Northern Virginia communities need to go into this new power supply for their data centers with their eyes wide open.  Are all the "benefits" they are receiving from the massive data center build out worth increasing their carbon footprint?  Why are other communities in rural areas hundreds of miles from the data centers being forced to sacrifice their land and in some instances, the very air they breathe, so that Northern Virginia counties can increase their tax revenue and their sprawl?  If these counties are receiving all the benefits from the data center buildout, shouldn't they also step up and shoulder the negative impacts by building new coal, gas, and nuclear power stations in their own communities?

There has to be a better solution than this!
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New FirstEnergy Transmission Proposal at PJM Interconnection

8/15/2023

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Here it is... all in one place.
2023_firstenergy_transmission_plan.pdf
File Size: 264 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

If you've been looking for more information about FirstEnergy's proposal for TWO new 500kV transmission lines from northwestern West Virginia to suburban Maryland, this is all the information currently available.

Spread the word!

PJM is currently evaluating 72 transmission proposals to find the ones it thinks will work best to bring more electricity to power more data centers in Northern Virginia.  FirstEnergy's proposals oh so conveniently supply coal-fired electricity from their Ft. Martin and Harrison power stations in northern West Virginia.

PJM is expected to finish its evaluation in September and has promised to hold a special Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee Meeting in October to reveal its choices and discuss before it recommends approval from the PJM Board of Managers.  Lots of PJM activity coming up for your participation.  Keep checking back for more instructions!
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Transmission Leftovers

7/16/2023

2 Comments

 
Some things are better the second time around, like lasagna and chili.  Transmission projects, however, are not good leftovers.  Once a transmission idea is proposed to the public, vehemently contested, and eventually shelved as unneeded and impossible, it can never come back from the dead.

Or can it?

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act have created a new transmission feeding frenzy from coast to coast.  Now that the government is giving away your tax dollars to provide incentive to build new transmission "for renewables," utilities and transmission developers are falling all over themselves to belly up to the buffet.  There is no actual plan for what transmission needs to be built, any transmission will do.  It's about quantity, not quality.  They just can't propose transmission fast enough.  And apparently some utilities are simply recycling old transmission projects from the last decade that were never built.

Remember the Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway, or MAPP, project?  Proposed around 2007, this hotly opposed transmission project across Maryland's eastern shore was finally abandoned several years later, citing lack of need.  The utilities behind this horrible idea were fully reimbursed for their sunk costs by ratepayers who would have "benefited" from the project.  If my memory serves, it was something like $80M that we paid for a transmission project that was never constructed.

The MAPP project is back, one of dozens of new transmission proposals currently being evaluated by grid planner PJM.  They even recycled the name... once again calling it MAPP.
Project title:  Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway (MAPP)

Project description:  Exelon is proposing a 230 mile, 500 kV AC / 400 kV DC high-voltage transmission line originating in Northern Virginia, crossing Maryland, traveling up the Delmarva Peninsula and terminating in southern New Jersey.

Do they think the folks who fought MAPP have forgotten?  It's only been 15 years.  They remember, and many are still around, with all the knowledge they gained fighting MAPP the first time.

Transmission fatigue is a thing.  Communities who have fought a transmission line are instantly opposed to another proposed for the same area, and they know what to do because they've ridden in this rodeo before.  A recent transmission proposal through New Hampshire is giving communities that fought the scrapped Northern Pass project PTSD.
When four representatives of National Grid came before Concord City Council on Monday to start the long process of expanding a power line through the state bringing electricity from HydroQuebec, they soon encountered a ghost.

“Our community still suffers from PTSD with regard to Northern Pass,” Councilor Jennifer Kretovic told them. “When you mention the words HydroQuebec, that will automatically raise concern.”

The four representatives nodded glumly.
And stupidly, I might add.  Transmission is bad enough without ghost projects adding to the hatred.

It seems that every contested and vanquished transmission project from the past 15-20 years has been resurrected.

Remember PATH, the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline?  It's back.  But instead of just the revised, re-routed project that PATH finally settled on, former PATH partner FirstEnergy has proposed BOTH the original PATH route through Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson Counties AND the revised PATH route through Frederick County, VA, southern Jefferson County, WV, Loudoun County, VA and Frederick County Maryland.  This is FirstEnergy's recent proposal for PJM's competitive transmission window.  On a map, it looks like this:
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The northern line on the map is described like this:
Component title:  Fort Martin - Doubs 500 kV #1 Line

Project description: 
Construct ~158 miles of new 500 kV line from Fort Martin Substation to Doubs Substation.Terminate the new transmission line and revise relay settings at Doubs and Fort Martin substations.Install fiber OPGW along the new line route. The construction of this new line will require the acquisition of 158 miles of new right-of-way, forestry clearing, permitting, and access road construction. Re-terminate the Bismark 500 kV Line at Doubs Substation. Aerial LiDAR will be required. This new transmission line will require Proposal Components 1 (Doubs Substation - Install500 kV Breaker), 2 (Doubs Substation - Expand 500 kV), and 4 (Fort Martin Substation - Install 500kV Breaker) to be completed.

This new 500 kV line will be constructed in West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland. Full Applications
will be required in each state. - It is assumed that the new 500 kV line will parallel existing ROW for approximately (85.6) miles and require (74.4) miles of new ROW not adjacent to existing ROW. It is assumed that no existing lines will be overbuilt with double circuit structures, but existing line rebuilds will be considered where applicable. - Approximately (695) parcels will be affected by the line route. Assumed 5% condemnation (35 parcels).

The right-of-way width is assumed to be 200 ft. This width is based on the widest ROW needed for
500 kV and does not account for structure configuration or span lengths. Widths needed may vary upon final design.

The new Fort Martin-Doubs #1 500 kV Line will be constructed on double circuit 500 kV tubular
steel monopole and two-Pole structures. The second 500 kV circuit is to be left vacant and installed at a future date. - The average span length is 1200 ft. - It is assumed that the new double circuit monopole structures will have an average height of 180 ft. Final structure heights will need to be determined during project development. FAA filing and application may be required. - The new structures will utilize custom 500 kV V-string and double I-string suspension and dead-end insulator assemblies.

This new 500 kV line provides a direct connection from the west side of the system to the east
side. - This new line provides the ability to install a second Fort Martin - Doubs 500 kV Line on the same structures, without additional right-of-way acquisition. - This new line route will provide the opportunity to loop the Fort Martin - Doubs 500 kV Line into Bedington and/or Black Oak substations in the future, if necessary for reliability or resiliency. - Greenfield construction is assumed due to outage constraints, but existing rights-of-way and corridors to rebuild lower voltage lines will be considered where applicable.
A portion of the southern line on the map from Meadow Brook to Doubs is described like this:
Component title:  Meadow Brook - Doubs 500 kV Line

Project description:  Construct 55.3 miles of new 500 kV line from Meadow Brook Substation to Doubs Substation.Terminate the new transmission line and revise relay settings at Doubs and Meadow Brook substations. Install fiber along the new line route. The construction of this new line will require the acquisition of 55.3 miles of new right-of-way, forestry clearing, permitting, and access road construction. Re-terminate the Meadow Brook - Loudon & Meadow Brook - Front Royal 500 kV lines at Meadow Brook Substation. Aerial LiDAR will be required. This new transmission line wil lrequire Proposal Components 1 (Doubs Substation - Install 500 kV Breaker), Component 2 (Doubs Substation - Expand 500 kV), and Component 3 (Meadow Brook Substation - Expand 500 kV) to be completed.

This new 500 kV line will be constructed in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. Full Applications
will be required in each state. - It is assumed that the new line will parallel existing ROW for approximately (22.8) miles and require (32.5) miles of new ROW not adjacent to existing ROW. It is assumed that no existing lines will be overbuilt with double circuit structures, but existing line rebuilds will be considered where applicable. - Approximately (146) parcels will be affected by thel ine route. Assumed 5% condemnation (7 parcels).

The right-of-way width is assumed to be 200 ft. This width is based on the widest ROW needed for 500 kV and does not account for structure configuration or span lengths. Widths needed can vary upon final design.

This new line will be constructed on single circuit 500 kV tubular steel monopole structures with an
average span length of 1200 ft. - The new structures will utilize custom 500 kV V-string and double I-string suspension and dead-end insulator assemblies. - New single circuit structures will have an average height of 150 ft.

This new 500 kV Line will provide an additional and much shorter electrical path between Meadow
Brook and Doubs linking the Black Oak-Bedington corridor with the 'AP South' corridor. - Greenfield construction is assumed due to outage constraints, but existing rights-of-way and corridors to rebuild lower voltage lines will be considered where applicable.
In addition, FirstEnergy proposed building a new 50 mile greenfield transmission line from Pruntytown to Meadow Brook.

It's not an "either/or" proposition.  FirstEnergy wants to build BOTH old PATH ideas this time.

Here we go again!

Is this new transmission required to expand renewable power?  Look at the map, it's self-explanatory.  PJM is soliciting proposals to move more coal-fired electric generation from plants at Ft. Martin and Pruntytown into the Washington, D.C. suburbs.  New generation is needed there because these areas have closed a whole bunch of the "dirty" coal and gas fired generation that used to keep their lights on.  Instead of replacing what they closed with local renewables, they're burying their heads in the sand and pretending they don't need any new generation.  However, they're also building new data centers that use an enormous amount of power and leaving it up to grid planner PJM to find a way to keep the lights on and the data centers humming.  The new PATH is one proposal for PJM to do just that.  Hardly "clean and green" is it?  It's a step back 20 years in time, when PATH was proposed to move 5,000 MW of coal-fired electricity from southern West Virginia to the D.C. metro area.

So, what happens next?  PJM says it will select projects from its huge proposal list in September.  Once selected, it proposes to have the favored projects approved by its Board in December of this year.  See timeline here (these projects are in 2022 RTEP Window 3):
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After being beaten into submission the first time, PATH abandoned its project and collected over $150M from electric customers like us for a project that was never built.  How much will it cost us the second time around? 

Keep your eyes on this one.  PATH did not happen the first time due to widespread opposition.  We're still here and we remember.
2 Comments

PATH Must Pay For Its Own Advertising and Influencing

3/17/2022

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Mandate.  What a lovely word!

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued its mandate today.
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Our petition for review is granted, the portions of FERC's Opinions 554-A and 554-B that authorized PATH to book the disputed expenditures in accounts other than Account 426.4 are vacated, and the case is remanded to FERC for further proceedings consistent with the Court's opinion.

You can read the Court's amended opinion here.
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Lawyers In Their Natural Habitat

1/29/2022

1 Comment

 
Wow!  These petitioners sound like real badasses.

I wonder who they are?
1 Comment

A New Chapter:  Fearless Girls Forge Ahead

7/27/2020

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Once upon a time, Keryn and Ali met at a PATH Opposition Strategy session in West Virginia.  It's been ten long years since then, and we're still challenging and supporting each other to reach our joint goal.

Ever met someone who just makes you better?  Someone so fearless that you just can't help being fearless right along with her?  It's been like Transmission Thelma and Louise, only without the cliff.  Until recently...

Guess where we're going?
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No, not there.  Been there, done that.  Time for a change of scenery.
Don't tell us we can't do something.  Don't tell us we don't matter.  Don't tell us we're powerless.  When the door shuts in our faces, we open a window.

Fearless.
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PATH Zombie Using Your Money to Fund Appeal at DC Circuit Court

3/31/2020

1 Comment

 
Three things are certain in life... death, taxes, and PATH continuing to cost ratepayers money.
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Last week, PATH filed an appeal of FERC Opinion No. 554-A at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  In this new battle, PATH asks a court to give it the last few things that FERC denied.  Why not?  After all, ratepayers are still picking up the tab for all PATH's legal fees and court costs.

Did you think PATH was over in 2011?  Or maybe 2012?  It wasn't.  There's still a charge in your electric bill every month to pay to keep the zombie alive so it can keep trying to collect even more money from ratepayers.

We got really close to closing the ratepayer ATM For Zombie Projects once, but FERC recently decided to keep it running for a while longer.  And this is how they get repaid for their generosity with our money.

PATH bites.

Ratepayers pay.

And pay.

And pay.

And pay.

And pay.

1 Comment

Request for Rehearing Filed in PATH Case

2/24/2020

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On January 24, 2020, the Commission issued Opinion No. 554-A, its Order On Rehearing, Directing Briefs, And Accepting In Part And Rejecting In Part Compliance Filings in this proceeding. The Commission arbitrarily and capriciously ruled that Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline (“PATH”) should re-recover its costs for its civic and political expenditures and General Advertising, completely reversing and contradicting its own
findings in Opinion No. 554 issued on January 19, 2017, and in violation of PATH’s approved
Formula Rate.  Opinion No. 554-A erroneously interprets the Commission’s existing accounting regulations, specifically exempting PATH’s expenses from Account 426.4 based on unstated and unwritten requirements, and introduces regulatory uncertainty. It also unduly intrudes into state jurisdiction by encouraging transmission owners to compromise the integrity of the state regulatory process at ratepayer expense. Opinion 554-A is based on substantial legal error, not supported by substantial record evidence, and is not the product of reasoned decision making for benefit of the ratepayers that the Commission serves. The Opinion is an extremely belated action that harms consumers and can only be deemed arbitrary and capricious and not the product of reasoned decision-making.

The Commission issued a well-reasoned and well-supported accounting determination in this proceeding in 2017. It followed that Opinion with further written guidance on calculating refunds (even going so far as to create spreadsheets for PATH to fill out), and an additional Order on compliance filings that required PATH to make additional refunds of advertising costs, or explain them in accordance with its Formula Rate. We note that the three Commissioners sitting today concurred in that Order. The refunds have been accomplished and the matter was headed for closure. If the Commission had concerns about its Opinion No. 554, it was not
evident during that time period. The Commission spent plenty of time making sure the refunds ordered were carried out, but could not find the time to consider PATH’s Request for Rehearing until after the refunds were accomplished.

What changed? The expenditures did not change. The Commission’s accounting regulations did not change. The Commission’s precedent did not change. The Commission’s
opinion is the only thing that changed. The Commission did not choose to clarify its previous opinion. It did not choose to modify its previous opinion. It did not choose to change its regulations to effect new policy in a separate proceeding. It chose to completely flip-flop on its prior opinion in a poorly supported new opinion, reverse its findings, and deem the expenditures recoverable using arguments and precedent that it initially rejected in Opinion No. 554. This is the epitome of an arbitrary and capricious action. The Commission appears to be fighting itself
here, not making well-reasoned decisions in the interest of the consumers it serves.

Therefore, in accordance with Rule 713 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, 18 C.F.R. § 385.713 (2016), Keryn Newman and Alison Haverty, parties pro se, submit this Request for Rehearing. The Commission should reverse Opinion No. 554-A and restore its findings in Opinion No. 554, approve compliance filings for amounts already refunded to ratepayers, and reestablish the regulatory certainty it once provided to the entities it regulates through long-standing precedent and guidance provided by its accounting regulations.

We began by wondering what had changed in the intervening years between Opinion No. 554 and Opinion No. 554-A. The only answer we can find is a clear instance of confirmation
bias where limited examination of the record, regulations, and precedent was performed to
support granting PATH’s Request for Rehearing. It’s almost like the Commission made the decision to grant PATH’s request in isolation, and then went on a futile search to find (or simply invent) support for its decision later. Opinion No. 554-A is an arbitrary and capricious decision by the Commission, completely unhinged from evidence, regulations, or precedent. This is a hallmark of a captured regulatory agency making arbitrary decisions in favor of those it regulates, and not based upon an impartial evaluation of the law for the benefit of the consumers it exists to serve. This is not regulation in the public interest.

We hereby request that the Commission set this matter for rehearing and restore its findings made in Opinion No. 554.
That's the beginning and the end.  Want to read what came in between?  You can read the entire filing here.
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The REAL End For The PATH Project Finally Arrives

1/17/2020

1 Comment

 
I first heard about the PATH Transmission project in the summer of 2008.  It was a horrible, unneeded idea that eventually met its fate, shelved in 2011 and cancelled for good in 2012.  Many considered that the end of the PATH project.

But it wasn't.  A formal complaint about PATH's rates had been filed at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in January, 2011.  I chose to stick with that complaint, even when PATH was no longer a threat.  It's been a lot of work over the past nine years, coming in fits and starts. 

We prevailed on our complaint, and PATH was ordered in 2017 to refund more than seven million dollars, plus interest and undue return it had collected for its extensive public relations campaign and lobbying carried out for the purpose of influencing the decisions of public officials considering the project's applications.  The correct precedent was set, and utilities under FERC's rate setting jurisdiction may no longer collect these kinds of costs from ratepayers.

Done!

But, not really.  Several more orders were issued since then, correcting PATH's refund filings.  Even though ratepayers officially paid off all the PATH debt in 2017, PATH has still managed to collect several million dollars a year from ratepayers while it bumbled its way through the FERC Orders and made required compliance filings.  I continued to keep an eye on what was transpiring.  Sometimes the kids get out of control if they don't have a babysitter.

The twice-yearly rate filing phone meetings and data requests continued.  And how much fun were those?  Not much fun at all.  I'm seriously over it.  Twelve years after PATH began collecting its costs through rate filings at FERC, it's time to put this thing to bed.  For good!  We've all got other things to do.

So, is it January again?  It seems like a lot of the PATH things happen at FERC in January.  New year, out with the old.  Yesterday, FERC issued its agenda for its January, 2020, public meeting.  PATH is on it.  All of the open PATH matters are on it.  They'll be settled one way or the other next Thursday.

Nobody knows what to expect until the order is issued.  But the fact that it ended up, once again, on a monthly meeting agenda indicates that the Commission sees some value in making this order more visible.  The Commission issues orders every day, but only a handful are significant enough to end up on the monthly agenda, delivered before an audience in Hearing Room 1.

I can't wait!  No matter what happens, I'm am truly thrilled to put PATH behind me, for good!

FERC gets a lot of rancor from the public and the industries it regulates.  But, in this instance, FERC has done an outstanding job sorting through everything and meting out justice.  The FERC employees I interacted with during this case have been fair, considerate, and dedicated.  I had a great experience at FERC.  I have faith that FERC works for for the citizens it serves.

Twelve years... the lingering life of a transmission proposal that was concocted in haste... and repented at leisure.  The ratepayer gravy train will now finally grind to a halt.
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    About the Author

    Keryn Newman blogs here at StopPATH WV about energy issues, transmission policy, misguided regulation, our greedy energy companies and their corporate spin.
    In 2008, AEP & Allegheny Energy's PATH joint venture used their transmission line routing etch-a-sketch to draw a 765kV line across the street from her house. Oooops! And the rest is history.

    About
    StopPATH Blog

    StopPATH Blog began as a forum for information and opinion about the PATH transmission project.  The PATH project was abandoned in 2012, however, this blog was not.

    StopPATH Blog continues to bring you energy policy news and opinion from a consumer's point of view.  If it's sometimes snarky and oftentimes irreverent, just remember that the truth isn't pretty.  People come here because they want the truth, instead of the usual dreadful lies this industry continues to tell itself.  If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.


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