Reliability, PUHCA repeal among energy bill provisions

Washington (Platts)--18Apr2005

Key electricity provisions in the House energy bill, which is slated for
debate as early as Wednesday, include those that would create an electric
reliability organization to enforce standards on users of the grid, would
repeal the Public Utility Holding Company Act and would authorize the US
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to site transmission facilities in
certain cases. 

The House Energy and Commerce Committee last week made two major changes to
the electricity title: One is the elimination of "participant funding" of
transmission upgrades that would have allowed utilities to assign
the costs to grid users that would benefit from the improvements. The other
called for FERC to issue a rule enabling load-serving entities to secure
long-term transmission rights for current or future load in electricity
markets with commission-approved regional transmission operators and
independent system operators. In regions without RTOs or ISOs, utilities'
existing firm transmission rights are preserved for their native-load service.

This story was originally published in Platts Electricity Alert
http://www.electricityalert.platts.com

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