Docket No. ER22-2768-000
Because the Order is consistent with Order No. 679[1] and subsequent Commission precedent,[2] I concur with it.
I point out that, inter alia, the Order conditionally grants MJMEUC a 50-basis point RTO participation adder on top of the existing MISO ROE, which, by definition, already represents the market cost of equity capital. So the adder is, by definition, a subsidy, as any ROE adder is — more “FERC candy” taken directly from consumers and redistributed to transmission owners.
In April 2021 two of my colleagues, including the Chairman, joined me in voting to limit the RTO participation adder — the exact type granted herein — to three years after joining.[3] Over a year and a half later, we have yet to take a final vote to implement that limit. As long as we do not, consumers will continue to pay these adders at a time when consumers are already facing rapidly rising monthly power bills.
For these reasons, I respectfully concur.
[1] Promoting Transmission Investment through Pricing Reform, Order No. 679,
116 FERC ¶ 61,057, order on reh’g, Order No. 679-A, 117 FERC ¶ 61,345 (2006), order on reh’g, 119 FERC ¶ 61,062 (2007).
[2] E.g., Sw. Power Pool, Inc., 179 FERC ¶ 61,134 (2022).
[3] Electric Transmission Incentives Policy Under Section 219 of the Federal Power Act, Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 175 FERC ¶ 61,035 (2021) (Supplemental NOPR). I note that this Supplemental NOPR modified a March 20, 2020 NOPR issued in that docket. Electric Transmission Incentives Policy Under Section 219 of the Federal Power Act, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 170 FERC ¶ 61,204, errata notice, 171 FERC ¶ 61,072 (2020).