The mega-NOPR

This article is a review of recent Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (Mega-NOPR) trends at the Federal Energy Regulatory Administration, particularly focusing on direct-access and generation market power. Relative to access, FERC`s proposal is to ensure that: (1) all participants in wholesale electricity markets have nondiscriminatory open access to the transmission network, and (2) transmission owners must offer nondiscriminatory open access transmission and ancillary services to wholesale sellers and purchasers of electricity. Relative to the generation power market, FERC`s standards require an applicant to demonstrate that they lack or have mitigated market power in generation and transmission. If this rulemaking achieves its goals, increased competition will occur and the need for generation-related market power may disappear.