October 12, 2020

REGULATORY UPDATE FOR OCTOBER 12 (COVERING WEEK OF OCTOBER 5)

Our energy regulatory team has compiled a list of state and federal energy regulatory developments to keep you up to speed on key energy regulatory matters from across the United States. Stoel’s energy regulatory team is always available to answer questions about any of these developments. 

CALIFORNIA

On October 6, 2020, the California Independent System Operator, California Energy Commission and California Public Utilities Commission issued a Preliminary Root Cause Analysis of the two rotating outages in the CAISO footprint on August 14 and 15, 2020.

NINTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

In an unpublished order issued on October 7, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated FERC’s declaratory orders in NextEra Energy, Inc. v. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 166 FERC ¶ 61,049 (2019), reh’g denied, 167 FERC ¶ 61,096 (2019). The court determined that FERC’s declaratory orders holding that PG&E cannot cease performing under or reject in bankruptcy its wholesale power contracts without the consent of FERC became moot when the bankruptcy court confirmed a reorganization plan requiring PG&E to assume, rather than reject, the contracts at issue.

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