District of Columbia AG Submitted Comments Urging FERC to Reject PJM’s Discriminatory Market Rule Proposals

OCTOBER 2, 2018

District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine submitted comments urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reject two proposals by PJM Interconnection that would remove state-supported clean energy from its capacity market and establish a new Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR) for state-supported clean energy. If enacted, PJM’s proposals would counteract state clean energy policies by establishing an artificial price floor designed to benefit fossil-fuel energy sources. In June 2018, FERC ordered PJM to restructure its capacity market to account for what FERC referred to as “price suppression” from state clean energy policies. AG Racine’s comments emphasized that FERC’s order targets payments made under the District of Columbia’s Renewable Energy Credit (REC) program, which is beyond the scope of FERC’s regulatory authority under the Federal Power Act. The comments also noted that the District of Columbia has committed to reducing emissions by 50 percent from 2006 levels by 2032, and has already succeeded in reducing emissions by 24 percent from 2006 levels through its clean energy policies.