Regional reliability group seeks retraction from NERC

Platts T&D - 02/10/2004

The chairman of the Southeastern Electric Reliability Council is demanding a retraction from the head of the North American Electric Reliability Council regarding comments made last week by NERC President and CEO Michehl Gent.

In a summary of comments from its members following the Aug. 14 blackout, NERC said responses from operators within SERC and the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council were less than complete and not what NERC expected compared with the responses of other operators and other regional councils. Gent said last week that while many operators and councils provided comprehensive responses with details of steps being taken on various issues outlined by Gent, some companies within SERC and FRCC submitted a one-page form letter saying they were complying with existing reliability standards. Gent said that NERC was "not happy with being blown off."

But in a Monday letter to Gent, SERC Chairman Terry Boston said SERC members complied with Gent's request to complete a review of various reliability measures and that if NERC wanted something beyond a certification that the review was completed "you should have requested it and SERC members would have gladly complied." SERC's executive committee met last week and decided to reject the accusations made in NERC's summary of responses, which were posted on NERC's Website before Gent made his comment to reporters, according to the letter.

"It appears you are trying to punish the innocent again without a hearing or even the courtesy of a phone call to discuss your concerns. Your public backhanded slaps at SERC, which ignore its members' long history of placing reliability first, are inappropriate, uncalled for and clearly do not 'advance the ball' on improving overall grid reliability" Boston told Gent. "At a minimum, you should revise the general comments on your Website and retract your public comments," Boston said.

"This is a time to pull together to meet the reliability challenges being placed on the grid," and "SERC stands committed" to do that, Boston said. NERC officials were not available to comment Monday on Boston's letter