FErC went too far in expanding avoided-cost provisions to include state policy, utilities say

摘要

Investor-owned utilities object to the way the Federal Energy nRegulatory Commission recently expanded its rules to let states ninclude policy considerations when setting avoided-cost rates nunder the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act.nAccording to the Edison Electric Institute and California’s nthree IOUs, FERC’s decision violated PURPA because it would nmake customers subsidize certain types of qualifying facilities to npromote environmental or other state policies.nThey asked FERC to reconsider, or at least clarify, its finding nthat setting separate avoided costs for different categories of QFs ncould be consistent with PURPA. In its order, the commission nsaid that just as a state may take into account the cost of the nnext marginal unit of generation in determining avoided costs, nit also may consider obligations imposed by the state requir-ning that, for example, utilities purchase energy from particular nsources or for a long duration (Docket Nos. EL10-64, 66).