[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 234 (Tuesday, December 7, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70678-70679]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E4-3510]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RM04-7-000]


Market Based Rates for Public Utilities; Supplemental Notice of 
Agenda for Technical Conference

December 1, 2004.
    The attachment to this supplemental notice provides additional 
information concerning the December 7, 2004, technical conference to 
discuss issues associated with transmission market power and barriers 
to entry. (See November 12, 2004, Notice of Technical Conference.) The 
conference will begin at 9:30 a.m. (e.s.t.) and will conclude at 
approximately 5 p.m. and will be convened in the Commission Meeting 
Room at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, 
NE., Washington, DC. Members of the Commission will attend the 
conference. All interested persons are invited to attend. Microphones 
will be available to enable those in the audience to participate in the 
discussion.
    The topic of the conference will be issues associated with 
transmission or vertical market power, and barriers to entry in 
electric markets, which are two of the four prongs the Commission 
currently uses to determine whether to grant market-based rate 
authority. The conference will address whether the Commission's pro 
forma open access transmission tariff adequately mitigates transmission 
market power, other proposals to identify and mitigate transmission 
market power, as well as whether and, if so, to what extent there are 
other barriers to entry that the Commission should consider.
    The conference will be transcribed. Those interested in acquiring 
the transcript should contact Ace Reporters at 202-347-3700 or 800-336-
6646. Transcripts will be placed in the public record ten days after 
the Commission receives the transcripts. Additionally, Capitol 
Connection offers the opportunity for remote listening and viewing of 
the conference. It is available for a fee, live over the Internet, by 
phone or via satellite. Persons interested in receiving the broadcast, 
or who need information on making arrangements, should contact David 
Reininger or Julia Morelli at Capitol Connection (703-993-3100) as soon 
as possible or visit the Capitol Connection Web site at http://www.capitolconnection.org and click on ``FERC.''
    For more information about the conference, please contact Kelly 
Perl at 202-502-6421 or [email protected].

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.

Technical Conference on Transmission Market Power and Barriers to 
Entry, December 7, 2004, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

    The purpose of this conference will be to discuss the second and 
third prongs of the Commission's assessment of an applicant's 
request for market-based rate authority: transmission market power 
and barriers to entry. Panelists will each be asked to address 
issues among the following in an overview prepared statement. The 
panelists' statements will be followed by questions and general 
discussion:

Transmission Market Power and Transmission Barriers to Entry 
Questions

    1. How should transmission market power be defined? Should it be 
defined as merely the ownership of generation and transmission in 
the same relevant market?
    2. Can transmission market power be used to foreclose 
competition or raise prices? If so, how?
    3. How does transmission market power impact customer interests? 
For example, are prices significantly higher than they would have 
been without transmission market power? Is access to cheaper sources 
of supply limited? Is flexibility to respond to changing market 
conditions impaired?
    4. How does transmission market power impact power supplier 
interests? For example, is power plants' energy production 
constrained by the exercise or suspected exercise of transmission 
market power?
    5. What challenges do owners of uncommitted capacity face in 
securing long term power contracts or selling power on a short term 
basis?
    6. How does the existence of long term and evergreen firm 
transmission contracts affect power supplier entry?
    7. How important a factor is transmission congestion in the 
production, scheduling and consumption of power? To what degree can 
transmission congestion be attributed to physical transmission 
constraints and what degree to the exercise of transmission market 
power? How can the Commission distinguish between these two?
    8. How can the Commission differentiate between the exercise of 
transmission market power from legitimate reliability-driven denials 
of access?
    9. Do instances exist where transmission unavailability has led 
to the abandonment of plans to either build or expand generating 
capacity or to contract with a merchant supplier?
    10. Does the Commission's pro forma open access transmission 
tariff adequately mitigate transmission market power? If not, 
specify whether there are ways the tariff could be modified or 
better enforced to achieve this goal.
    11. Is it possible to eliminate or mitigate transmission market 
power apart from structural remedies? If so, how, and are there ways 
do to it apart from the OATT?

[[Page 70679]]

    12. Can analytical tools to assess transmission market power be 
developed to screen out behavior motivated by legitimate business 
interests and direct the Commission's attention to areas where 
transmission market power is more likely to be exercised?
    13. Does the existence of significant transmission constraints 
constitute a barrier to entry that should be considered in 
authorizing market-based rates for a transmission provider?

Non-Transmission Barriers to Entry Questions

    1. Can the lack of competition in fuel or other inputs constrain 
entry in the generation business? If so, how?
    2. Can monopolization or attempted monopolization of future 
generating sites be a significant barrier to entry in generation? If 
so, how, and what can be done to remedy this problem?
    3. Have financial constraints, such as access to capital or 
creditworthiness issues, been a serious barrier to entry in 
generation, or any other aspect of the electric power business?
    4. Are there other barriers to entry the Commission should 
consider in granting market based rates? If so, how should the 
Commission test for the extent of harm to customers of competitors 
associated with such barriers?
    5. Does the lack of an adequate competitive solicitation program 
by a utility that has monopsony power constitute a barrier to entry?

[FR Doc. E4-3510 Filed 12-6-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P