[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 213 (Monday, November 4, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Page 67157]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-27944]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RM01-12-000 et al.]


Remedying Undue Discrimination Through Open Access Transmission 
Service and Standard Electricity Market Design; Notice Announcing 
Process for Western Interconnection Market Design and Postponing 
Technical Conference

October 25, 2002.
     Avista Corporation, Bonneville Power Administration, Idaho Power 
Company, Montana Power Company, Nevada Power Company, PacifiCorp, 
Portland General Electric Company, Puget Sound Energy, Inc., Sierra 
Pacific Power Company, British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, 
Arizona Public Service Company, El Paso Electric Company, Public 
Service Company of New Mexico, Tucson Electric Power Company , 
WestConnect RTO, LLC [Docket No. EL02-9-000], California Independent 
System Operator Corporation, California Independent System Operator 
Corporation. [Docket No. RM01-12-000], [Docket No. RT01-35-000], 
[Docket No. RT02-1-000], [Docket No. ER02-1656-000], [Docket No. ER02-
2576-000]
    The Commission is announcing a process to develop compatible market 
designs in the Western Interconnect. The Commission wishes to build 
upon constructive ideas that emerged in technical meetings in Denver 
this week, comments from western commissioners at CREPC on October 1, 
and other outreach meetings around the West. In these meetings, 
participants learned about positive developments in RTO West, 
WestConnect, and the California ISO and flagged certain market design 
elements that may not be sufficiently compatible across the region. We 
note that the Seams Steering Group of the Western Interconnect (SSG-WI) 
and other regional organizations have been working to identify such 
elements in order to develop and support an evolving seamless western 
wholesale energy market that minimizes trade barriers and promotes 
common business practices for inter-RTO transmission services. We 
learned that SSG-WI is pursuing plans to formalize its role and to re-
structure in a way that allows for open participation, and that there 
has been further clarification of the roles of SSG-WI, the WECC, and 
CREPC. Participants in these meetings asked FERC staff for an 
opportunity to resolve ``seams'' issues through these regional 
processes.
    We are encouraged by these developments and offer FERC staff 
resources to support this effort. We believe that the seams resolution 
and market development process will be most successful if all market 
participants and representatives of public power and states fully 
participate, and if the process is driven by the market participants 
within the context of FERC's efforts. State participation is essential 
to this process, and states are encouraged to give their policy 
guidance through the appropriate regional organization. We request that 
SSG-WI develop a list of recommended market design elements appropriate 
for the western interconnect (i.e., balancing market, transmission 
rights, planning process, etc.), which elements must be designed 
compatibly to avoid seams, and a plan and timeline for resolution of 
these issues that is coordinated with RTO development efforts. This 
plan would include specific tasks for each of the current SSG-WI 
working groups and any other working groups that may be necessary. We 
request that SSG-WI present that plan by mid-January, consistent with 
previously set SSG-WI deadlines.
    To accommodate this process, we recognize that some flexibility in 
RTO timelines may be required. We envision a parallel track between 
this process and RTO development processes so that both can continue to 
move forward. We expect the SSG-WI process to clarify which remaining 
issues can be resolved in RTO proceedings and which should be 
coordinated through this collaborative process for the Western 
Interconnect.
    We will defer the November 4, 2002, policy meeting scheduled in 
Portland, Oregon, to allow this alternative process a chance to 
succeed. We will schedule a public meeting, which Commissioners plan to 
attend, after a consensus plan has been presented. We expect further 
technical meetings between the parties during November and December to 
advance this process; our staff will participate.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 02-27944 Filed 11-1-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P