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Appeals Court Sides With Power Generators That FERC Errored In Allowing PJM To Retroactively Revise Terms Of Competitive Power Capacity Auction
The Appeals court ruled in favor of appeals from the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA), the PJM Power Providers Group (P3), NRG Energy, and Constellation Energy Generation. The Court agreed that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) erred in approving a petition from PJM to retroactively revise the terms of a competitive power capacity auction after it identified an anomaly in its initial estimates.
The 3rd Circuit vacated FERC’s order saying it constituted retroactive ratemaking because it allowed PJM to revise a capacity market parameter for the DPL South zone after the 2024/25 auction had been conducted but prior to the publication of its results.
“In these consolidated petitions, the petitioners challenge orders of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) on the ground that FERC allowed a new auction rule to apply retroactively to a pending auction. PJM Interconnection L.L.C. (“PJM”), the entity in charge of running the auction, applied this new rule to determine the auction results. The petitioners contend that FERC’s orders violate the filed rate doctrine, which forbids retroactive rates. We agree. We will grant the petitions and vacate the orders in relevant part.”
