Perspective

 

FERC's call for regional PUCs will force state regulators to declare their allegiance.

How will regulators re-engineer restructuring? That was the theme of the seventh annual convention of the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Commissioners (MARUC). But while the theme may have been the re-engineering of restructuring, other regulators felt more inclined to discuss the "re-regulating of restructuring."

In fact, FERC's call for regional public utility commissions (PUCs) to be formed as part of its Standard Market Design has deeply divided state PUCs, and this could be a problem for the future of FERC's initiatives.

Although power increasingly has shifted to the FERC, none deny that state regulators can delay or even cripple the federal actions by a combination of pressure on their jurisdictional companies and with political lobbying in Congress with state delegations.