PG&E and the 50 BP RTO Adder

In ER14-2529, in a series of Commission orders, FERC granted PG&E’s requests for a 50-basis point return-on-equity (ROE) adder to its transmission rates (RTO-Participation Incentive) for its continuing membership in CAISO. In granting the request, FERC rejected the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) argument that PG&E was not eligible for the incentive because California law required PG&E to participate in CAISO. On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Ninth Circuit) remanded the underlying orders and instructed FERC to “inquire into PG&E’s specific circumstances, i.e., whether it could unilaterally leave [CAISO] and thus whether an incentive adder could induce it to remain in [CAISO].”  On August 20, 2018, the Commission issued an initial order on remand establishing briefing procedures regarding those issues.   Having reviewed the record, including the additional briefing provided by parties to this proceeding, FERC found that California law does not mandate PG&E’s participation in CAISO, and that the RTO-Participation Incentive induces PG&E to continue its membership.  FERC therefore reaffirmed its prior grant of PG&E’s request for the RTO-Participation Incentive.

​Commissioner Glick consented with a separate statement.  In his statement, Commissioner Glick states that this PG&E case reinforces the importance of taking a hard look at the RTO-Participation Incentive in the Commission’s ongoing incentive proceeding (PL19-3).  He went on to state that FERC’s current approach to incentivizing RTO participation hands transmission owners across the country hundreds of millions of dollars every year with little indication that any of that money makes a meaningful difference in their decisions to enter or remain in an RTO, and FERC must carefully review whether the RTO-Participation Incentive remains money well spent and is consistent with FERC’s obligation under the FPA to ensure that transmission rates are just and reasonable.