With the start of the new year, there has already been significant change in the regulatory and legislative landscape that is likely to impact transmission policy in 2023. New leadership and a vacancy at FERC, along with a divided Congress, could result in changes to the pace, direction, and even the likelihood, of completing proposed rules and creating new laws around transmission issues such as planning, cost allocation, interconnection, cost containment, and permitting and siting.  WIRES was actively engaged throughout 2022 in several FERC rulemaking proceedings that are still ongoing and looks forward in 2023 to continuing to educate regulators and legislators on the many ways transmission developers work to minimize the cost of new transmission infrastructure built to meet the nation’s electricity needs.

 

I have often said that a moonshot effort is needed on transmission investment to meet ambitious federal and state clean energy goals and ever-growing electrification and resilience challenges in the decade ahead.  To date, we are far short of that kind of effort. Too many mixed signals from regulators and legislators over what kind of transmission, who should build it, at what cost, and who pays for it are creating too much uncertainty and must be resolved. We have a lot of work to do in 2023, and WIRES and its members look forward to working with policymakers and other stakeholders across the spectrum to get the job done.


Larry Gasteiger

Executive Director, WIRES

FERC Developments

Dec. 14, 2022 WIRES Generation Interconnection NOPR Reply Comments – RM22-14


Oct. 4, 2022 WIRES Comments AD22-8 & Charles River Report for Oct. 6th Technical Conf.


Sept. 19, 2022 WIRES Reply Comments RM21-17


See all filings on the WIRES website.

WIRES Reports

COMING SOON

WIRES Report on Transmission Formula Rates

WIRES will publish in February a new primer on transmission formula rates (TFRs), prepared by London Economics International, that explores what TFRs are, describes how FERC applies such rates, and assesses in an objective manner the positive ratemaking characteristics inherent in the use of TFRs for customers, regulators, transmission owners, and other industry stakeholders. It also provides a brief history of the inception and use of formula rates, as well as a high-level comparison of the use of the traditional stated rates approach and formula rates.


The report finds that TFRs have characteristics that advance ratemaking objectives of transparency and oversight, timeliness of cost recovery, as well as reduced regulatory burden and enhanced administrative efficiency (particularly when compared to full, lengthy stated rate cases). These attributes result in benefits that flow through to customers, FERC, transmission owners, and other industry stakeholders involved in transmission rate proceedings.

WIRES Leadership

WIRES 2023 LEADERSHIP

In November, WIRES announced its 2023 officers and board of directors. Read the press release.

2023 Officers

WIRES 2023 Officers

President: Amanda Conner, Vice President, FERC and RTO Strategy and Policy, AEP

Vice President: Jodi Moskowitz, Deputy General Counsel & RTO Strategy Officer, PSEG

Secretary: David Burnham, Director, Transmission Policy, Eversource

Treasurer: Amanda Rumsey, Manager, PJM and Federal Regulatory Policy, PPL Electric Utilities

2023 Board Members

WIRES 2023 Board of Directors

Will Sauer, Managing Director, Federal Regulatory Affairs, Duke Energy

Brian Gemmell, Chief Operating Officer, NY Electric at National Grid

Tom Hestermann, Manager, Transmission Policy, Sunflower Electric Power Corp

Nina Plaushin, Vice President, ITC Holdings

Dave Weaver, Vice President, Transmission Strategy, Exelon

WIRES Meetings

January 2023 Planning Meeting


At WIRES 2023 planning meeting, our transmission-owner members heard from Jeff Dennis, Deputy Director for Transmission Development, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Grid Deployment Office, on the many grid initiatives underway. An excellent update.

2022 WIRES Fall Member Meeting


We very much appreciate that Eric Vandenberg, newly named Deputy Director of FERC’s Office of Electric Reliability (OER), stepped in as our keynote when (then) Commissioner Phillips had a family emergency.  

Eric was forthcoming with many insights, and we encourage you to listen to the recording of his comments.

Eric Vandenberg

WIRES has secured venues for our Spring and Summer Member Meetings. We will be heading south and have two great destinations lined up in the Carolinas. Mark your calendars now.

Charleston SC

Spring Member

Meeting


April 26-27 in Charleston, SC at the Mills House Hotel 

Asheville NC

Summer Member Meeting


July 26-27 in Asheville, NC at the Omni Grove Park Inn

WIRES Members

Member Profiles

In total, WIRES’ membership accounts for ~160,000 miles of high voltage transmission, nearly 25% of all transmission lines in the U.S.

ITC

Full Supporting Member


ITC is the largest independent electricity transmission company in the US.  ITC provides transmission grid solutions to improve reliability, expand access to energy markets, allow new generating resources to interconnect to its systems and lower the overall cost of delivered energy. The company connects a variety of customers at transmission-level voltages – including generation and distribution utilities, municipal utility systems, rural electric utility cooperatives, and commercial and industrial customers which require high-voltage electricity. Through this work ITC delivers power to customers through several Midwest states, spanning from metropolitan Detroit westward to the community of Dodge City, Kansas. Based in Novi, Michigan, ITC is a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., a leader in the North American regulated electric and gas utility industry. 

SAM

Associate Member


SAM provides industry-leading surveying, geospatial and subsurface utility engineering (SUE) services to lay the foundation for the Electric Power industry by supporting safe and reliable greenfield and brownfield upgrades for power generation, transmission, distribution and substation projects. Our dedicated electric power industry crews deliver advanced technology solutions and the comprehensive data that electric power clients need to safely and efficiently maintain and expand their electric power infrastructure.

 

SAM offers a large suite of specialty services for renewable generation, transmission, substation and distribution projects including Surveying, Aerial Mapping/LiDAR, Aerial Inspection Services, Geospatial data collection, GIS, SUE, 3D Scanning, BIM and more.

Industry Visibility

Larry spoke at these two important industry events in the fourth quarter of 2022.

 


WIRES in the News

Sharing earned media highlights from Q4 2022. For a complete listing of earned media visit WIRES In the News



FERC’s murky leadership future could derail US climate goals

9/16/22 – Politico Pro

 

US Midterms 2022: Federal power policy focus shifting to agency action

9/22/22 – S&P Global

 

US Senator Joe Manchin releases bill to expedite energy projects

9/23/22 – T&D World

 

FERC policy chief frets about agency’s staff openings

9/30/22 E&E News

 

States urge more transparency on Tx planning, independent monitors

10/6/22 – RTO Insider

 

Stakeholders spar over FERC’s idea to create independent monitor

10/7/22 – S&P Global

 

FERC tech conf highlights regulatory gaps on transmission oversight

10/10/2022 – RTO Insider

 

FERC grapples with regulatory gaps during conference on rising power grid costs

10/10/2022 – S&P Global

 

Grid officials grapple with clean energy’s reliability threats

10/27/22 – Bloomberg Law

 

FERC’s extreme weather proposal could serve as foundation for US grid build out

10/27/22 – S&P Global

 

Nat’l Grid, DOE panelists call for ‘grid enhancing technologies’ to quickly boost transmission capacity

10/28/22 – Utility Dive

 

Transmission conference focuses on reliability, interconnection

11/1/22 – RTO Insider

 

WIRES Announces 2023 Officers and Board of Directors

11/7/22 – citybiz DC

 

The U.S. power grid has an oversight gap: Small power line spending

11/7/22 Politico

 

Is grid failure the path to urgently needed investment?

11/10/22 T&D World

 

With no “path forward” for renomination, Glick plans departure from FERC

12/15/22 – S&P Global

 

How the $1.7 trillion omnibus affects energy, from CCS to hydrogen

12/21/22 – E&E News

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WIRES is a non-profit trade association of investor-, publicly-, and cooperatively owned transmission providers, transmission customers, regional grid managers, and equipment and service companies. WIRES promotes investment in electric transmission and progressive state and federal policies that advance energy markets, economic efficiency, and consumer and environmental benefits through development of electric power infrastructure. For more information, visit www.wiresgroup.com.