Raising the stakes in RTO markets.
Michael T. Burr is Fortnightly’s Editor-in-Chief. Email him at burr@pur.com.
When Chairman Jon Wellinghoff emerged from a FERC meeting room one Thursday last October, he spoke briefly to reporters about why it was OK—and actually a good thing—for Duke Energy’s Ohio and Kentucky utilities to move from the Midwest ISO to the PJM Interconnection. As reported by Energy Daily, Wellinghoff said utilities should be free to pick “the most competitive RTO [regional transmission organization] that provides the best opportunity for their business models to operate.” Further, the chairman said it’s healthy for markets like MISO to “realize another RTO may have a superior structure that is attracting more utilities, and they maybe should consider changing their structure” (see Jeff Beattie, “FERC Lets Duke Utilities Switch from MISO to PJM,” Energy Daily, Fri., Oct. 22, 2010).