News Release: February 20, 2020
Docket Nos. EL13-62-001, EL13-62-002, EL19-86-000, EL16-92-001, ER17-996-000, ER16-1404-000
Orders: E-8 , E-9 , E-10 E-11
FERC Approves Market Rules to Protect Competition, Supplies in NYISO The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) acted to protect competition in the New York Independent System Operator, Inc.’s (NYISO) capacity market today by improving the buyer-side market power mitigation rules to send accurate price signals to markets and to ensure adequate supplies for consumers.
Today’s actions came in four orders that address specific, relatively narrow buyer-side market power issues in NYISO pending before the Commission. Overall, the orders narrow the exemptions from NYISO’s buyer-side market power mitigation rules in its mitigated capacity zones:
- Agenda item E-8 (EL13-62-001, EL13-62-002): FERC denied rehearing of an order that rejected a complaint, saying the complainant did not show that NYISO’s tariff was unjust and unreasonable because it permits existing capacity resources needed for short-term reliability and capacity resources with repowering agreements to offer their capacity at de minimis price levels into NYISO’s capacity markets.
- Agenda item E-9 (EL19-86-000): FERC denied a complaint from the New York Public Service Commission and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority seeking an exemption for electric storage resources from NYISO’s buyer-side market power mitigation rules. The application of buyer-side market power mitigation to electric storage resources in NYISO appropriately protects the capacity markets from the price suppressive effects of resources receiving out-of-market support, FERC said.
- Agenda item E-10 (EL16-92-001, ER17-996-000): FERC found that all new Special Case Resources (SCRs), a type of demand response resource in NYISO, should be subject to NYISO’s buyer-side market power mitigation rules. The Commission also found that payments from retail-level demand response programs designed to address distribution-level reliability needs should be excluded from the calculation of SCRs’ offer floors.
- Agenda item E-11 (ER16-1404-000): FERC found that NYISO’s proposed megawatt cap on the renewable resources exemption fails to comply with prior Commission directives, and directed NYISO to make a further compliance filing to ensure the exemptions for both renewable and self-supply resources are narrowly tailored to exempt only those resources the Commission has determined should be exempt.
R-20-14