Court vacates FERC orders claiming authority over PG&E power contracts

摘要

A US appeals court vacated two Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders asserting that the agency must approve any changes to wholesale power contracts in connection with Pacific Gas and Electric's now-completed Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. But the decision "does not especially harm FERC, as it can easily reassert its position in future proceedings," the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said Oct. 7 (PG&E v. FERC, 19-71615). Both PG&E and its parent company PG&E Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 2019 amid billions of dollars in potential liabilities tied to wildfires in Northern California. In response to the proceeding, FERC declared that the commission must approve any related changes or cancellations to PG&E's wholesale power contracts, a position that the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California later rejected in an order of its own.