State 'Around Market' Action and FERC: The End of Competitive Wholesale Electric Markets? 4-18-2017

Summary: For the past two decades, the U.S. has experimented with “market”-based competitive wholesale electric markets. Through FERC-superintended regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs), large regions of the country have procured electricity through a competitive generation model. Recently, those markets have been questioned as baseload electric resources – nuclear, coal and combined-cycle gas – have become unprofitable in the face of tax-favored renewable energy and low cost natural gas. States, in particular, have engaged in regulatory and legislative steps to rescue distressed baseload resources. The New York Clean Energy Standard, the Illinois Future Energy Jobs Bill and moves by states as politically disparate as Massachusetts, Ohio, Connecticut, Texas and California have brought the issue of the future of electric markets to the fore. This program will examine the legal and regulatory issues facing the states, the FERC, the courts and the entire electricity industry. -- This program was held at the National Press Club on April 18, 2017, and included an opening Keynote from Acting FERC Chairman Cheryl A. LaFleur followed by an expert panel discussion. -- Featuring: Larry Gasteiger, Chief, Federal Regulatory Policy for PSEG; Ray Gifford, Denver Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP; Hon. Cheryl A. LaFleur, Acting FERC Chairman; Prof. William (Bill) Hogan, Research Director, Harvard Electricity Policy Group, Raymond Plank Professor of Global Energy Policy, Harvard University; and Steven Schleimer, Senior Vice President for Government and Regulatory Affairs, Calpine Corp. Moderator: Tony Clark, Former FERC Commissioner, Senior Advisor, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP.