But Abraham said there still could be problems this summer if owners of the nation's 160,000 miles of high-voltage grid neglect suggested improvements from NERC and others. He also said, though, that many upgrades have been made since the blackout last August that left 50 million people in the dark.
"We also know that if somebody is not operating their system the right way there could be problems," Abraham told reporters at a news briefing.
A comprehensive energy bill now stalled in the U.S. Senate would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the power to enforce mandatory reliability rules that NERC plans to finalize early next year.
In the meantime, FERC has warned that California faces "very troublesome conditions" this summer because of above-average temperatures and low hydropower supplies.
NERC, the industry-funded watchdog, last week warned that unanticipated equipment problems and extremely hot weather could cause problems in California and New York.
Without the legislation, FERC and other agencies will have fewer options to address reliability, Abraham said. He dismissed calls by some Democrats for Congress to pass a stand-alone bill with electric reliability rules.
The possibility of blackouts this summer exists but is not high, experts say.
"We're more exposed, but we're still in a tolerable situation," said Roger Gale, head of GF Energy LLC, a Washington consulting firm. "It's not a crisis or an emergency."
The August blackout, which halted trains, shut down offices and disrupted business in New York and several states, failed to drive the Senate to pass the energy bill, Gale said. "The blackout didn't attract enough sustained attention to make people move as fast as they need to move," he said.
Utilities are under pressure to comply with reliability standards, after a U.S.-Canadian panel pinned much of the blame for the August blackout on Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp.
"Every electric utility executive is very cognizant of the political firestorm that came out of last year's blackout," said Branko Terzic, a consultant with Deloitte and Touche LLP and a former FERC commissioner. "Just as a matter of common sense they will be pulling out all the stops" to keep the lights on this summer, he said.
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