FERC yesterday said that it would direct its staff to hold informal discussions with the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) in the wake of the PSC’s voicing concerns about the development of GridFlorida, a regional transmission organization (RTO). The PSC has raised concerns focusing on jurisdictional boundaries and responsibilities as it relates to FERC and the state commission and the recovery of start up costs for the RTO.

At its bi-weekly meeting yesterday, FERC indicated that it would direct its staff to meet with Florida state regulators to review the PSC’s concerns. “What we’re finding more and more, and certainly having previously been a state commissioner and state chairman of a commission, I can tell you that the retail regulators are concerned about how we move through this RTO process,” FERC Chairman Curt Hebert said following the meeting. “And, understanding that, I think it should be our commitment — the commitment of FERC — to reach out to RTOs that are trying to develop and try to help them move through that process as quickly as possible.”

“Part of the expedience has everything to do with confidence in the system and us going down and answering questions certainly does that,” Hebert said.

FPL recently said that it may have to re-evaluate its GridFlorida plans in the wake of recent concerns expressed by PSC staff related to the company’s participation in the RTO (see Daily GPI, May 7).

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