Docket No. ER26-2691-000, ER26-2691-001
I concur in today’s order and I write separately to highlight two truths.
First, Duke’s existing tariff includes zero protections safeguarding residential consumers and small businesses from bearing the costs of transmission for new large loads such as data centers. Duke’s proposal offers meaningful, if imperfect, new protections, and for that reason the Commission is right to accept it. Given the pace of data center development, we cannot afford to tinker with and reject iterative FPA section 205 filings for months or years while regular people remain unprotected.
Second, this filing highlights a broader problem: consumer protections are inadequate across the country. The risks that remain under the filing we accept today make clear that there is more work to do. To the extent state regulatory actions are not sufficient to protect consumers, the Commission has an obligation to seriously consider expanding the cost recovery framework it established in the Large Load Show Cause Orders.1 The Department of Energy’s ANOPR remains pending and provides an opportunity to consider a more uniform approach.2 And, as always, if the Commission initiates a proceeding under FPA section 206, the Commission will correct any currently effective rates that it finds no longer just and reasonable. In the meantime, we must put initial safeguards in place without delay.
For these reasons, I respectfully concur.