The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week endorsed acustomer-friendly interconnction plan by Commonwealth Edison,calling it “another critical step” toward getting new merchantpower plants on the transmission grid.

The Commission approved, with a few changes, ComEd’sfirst-of-its-kind proposal in which an Illinois utility sought toamend its open-access tariff to establish standardized proceduresfor requesting interconnection services on its system and thecriteria by which requests would be evaluated [ER00-1820].

Commonwealth Edison’s amended tariff specifically will providepotential customers with information on how priority in the queuefor interconnections will be determined and the time frame in whichstudies will be completed and final decisions made.

“This is another critical step along the road to a more rationalpro-competitive policy” in the electric industry, said CommissionerWilliam Massey, who is spearheading an effort at the Commission toprovide greater access to the transmission grid for new powergenerators.

“I wholeheartedly endorse this call and ask [other] transmissionproviders to heed it. It’s a call to take down another of theobstacles to letting markets work.”

Many in the power industry seek a more standardizedinterconnection process for all utilities to follow, Massey noted.”These suggestions certainly have a lot of appeal to me…..TheCommission should move in these directions. But for today I’msatisfied with our explicit encouragement [for] utilities to amendtheir tariffs as Commonwealth Edison has done.”

For Chairman James Hoecker, the filing marks an importantturning point. “I believe this filing reflects a subtle but veryimportant change in the way transmission owners view the merchantgeneration, that is as customers. What a concept.”

ComEd also has submitted an expanded interconnection policy thatwill facilitate siting in northern Illinois, and has posted on itsWeb site the preferred locations for new generation in the state,he said. This “takes a lot of the mystery out of the process ofsiting and of market entry by showing where new generation can beaccommodated without necessarily expanding the existingtransmission facility. I really like these customer-friendlyinnovations, as do my colleagues.”

Susan Parker

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