Backers of a proposed regional transmission organization (RTO) in the Southeast known as SeTrans last week said that they are suspending efforts related to forming the RTO, saying that it is “highly unlikely that consensus support and acceptance for the SeTrans RTO will be forthcoming from all applicable state and federal agencies.”

“While we are suspending our efforts, we believe that the SeTrans proposal contains much valuable work and could serve as an ultimate roadmap for future efforts in the region,” the SeTrans sponsors said in a prepared statement. “Suspending our efforts on SeTrans will allow sponsors to explore other alternatives that achieve the goals expressed above and also enhance the likelihood of receiving support at both the state and federal levels.”

Supporters of the SeTrans effort more than two years ago began a process to voluntarily develop the RTO. “Since the beginning of the process, several of the SeTrans sponsors have been clear that their participation in SeTrans required the approval of applicable public service commissions under governing state laws, as well as the approval of the FERC,” the RTO’s backers noted.

But the retail commissions in the region have expressed significant concerns about the role of an RTO and its effects on matters subject to their jurisdiction, including concerns about native load protection and cost impacts. They have expressed these concerns in numerous public forums, in letters to FERC and to Congress. “In recent weeks, it has become increasingly apparent that most of the public service commissions continue to have these concerns,” the SeTrans backers said.

The SeTrans sponsors are: Cleco Power LLC; Dalton (GA) Utilities; Entergy Corp.; Georgia Transmission Corporation; JEA — Jacksonville (FL); the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia; Sam Rayburn G & T Electric Cooperative, Inc.; Southern Co.; and the City of Tallahassee (FL).

FERC in October of last year signaled that sponsors of the SeTrans RTO were headed in the right direction with their proposal to establish a grid operator in the region. The agency approved SeTrans’ plan to create a third-party independent system administrator to control RTO members’ transmission facilities in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and parts of Florida and Texas.

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