Winter Storm Elliott, which slammed the East Coast in late 2022, made it “abundantly clear” that major improvements have to be made to the natural gas and electric grid systems, FERC Chair Willie Phillips said Thursday.

Speaking during a regular Federal Energy Regulatory Commission meeting, Phillips said improvements must be made to the grid to ensure cold weather reliability. He was referring to the joint inquiry completed earlier this year with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) (No. R23-29).

“I have said repeatedly,” Phillips said. “Someone – it doesn’t have to be FERC – must have authority to establish and enforce natural gas reliability standards,” the chairman said. Some recommendations from the 2021 Winter Storm Uri report “are...