FERC regulation—electricity: FERC and NERC speed processing of electric reliability violations

Abstract

AbstractThe North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is the organization responsible for ensuring the reliability of the bulk‐power system (BPS) in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. NERC recently received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to streamline the process for tracking and reporting violations of electric reliability standards. On March 15, FERC issued an order conditionally approving the proposed “Find, Fix, Track, and Report” (FFTR) process to expedite the enforcement process for violations of NERC Reliability Standards that pose lesser risk to the BPS.1 In its approval of NERC's new process, however, FERC included several conditions that narrow the range of potential violations eligible for the expedited process. FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff hailed the new process as “a major change in how [FERC] will enforce compliance with the Reliability Standards going forward.”2