FERC met in closed session on Wednesday following its regularly scheduled open agenda meeting to discuss enforcement-related issues at the Commission, a move that Commissioners said is likely to become a regular part of the agency’s routine, as it is at FERC’s sister regulatory agencies in Washington, DC.

During a press briefing following Wednesday’s regular meeting, FERC Chairman Pat Wood was asked if the closed meeting relates to the Commission’s probe of western energy markets. “I can’t answer that question because it’s a closed meeting, and so we have a pretty broad posting there for a purpose,” Wood responded. “If there are any actions taken, those will be taken by a formal vote of the Commission, either in an open meeting or notationally,” he added.

FERC Commissioner Nora Brownell pointed out that the Commission has visited some of its sister federal regulatory agencies, including the CFTC, that have weekly or bi-weekly closed meetings “to review trends, do a lot of things, so I think this is something you can expect us to incorporate in this agency.” Under the Sunshine Act the Commission is required to conduct its discussions and votes on its regular caseload in meetings open to the public.

Wood noted that with the advent of FERC’s new Office of Market Oversight and Investigation “one of the important processes that’s going to make that office really valuable to the Commission is that we would have as our sister agencies do, periodic market surveillance issues and market enforcement issues.” He expects that these types of meetings “will be a routine part of our business, much as it is at sister agencies.”

Wood was asked to explain the need for having such meetings behind closed doors. “It’s permitted under the law and actually I think is good practice,” Wood responded. “If you’re investigating people, you don’t want to necessarily tip them off or tip the world off to what you’re doing,” he added.

Wood acknowledged that there are investigations under way at FERC the details of which have not been made public. He noted that one of the agency’s rules allows the Commission to initiate nonpublic investigations. “There are three levels [of investigations] — staff-initiated, nonpublic by Commission order and then the third are public by Commission order.” Wood also noted that third-party complaints at the agency “are generally not dealt with in closed session, although they could be.”

FERC earlier this month ordered four energy suppliers — El Paso Electric Co., Avista Corp., Portland General Electric and Williams Energy Marketing & Trading — to show cause why their market-based rate authority should not be revoked retroactive to Feb. 13 of this year, when the Commission launched its investigation into potential gaming of western energy markets. The Commission said that it was taking this action after the four companies offered responses to questions related to FERC’s probe into energy price manipulation that were either glaringly incomplete or simply not credible. The companies were facing a deadline of last Friday (June 14) to respond to the FERC order.

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