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Subject:FW: RTO Week -- Summary of Standards and Practices Panel
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Date:Thu, 18 Oct 2001 14:50:36 -0700 (PDT)

=20
-----Original Message-----
From: Rodriquez, Andy=20
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 4:46 PM
To: Black, Tamara Jae; '/o=3DENRON/ou=3DNA/cn=3DRecipients/cn=3Dnotesaddr/c=
n=3Da478079f-55e1f3b0-862566fa-612229'; Abler, William; Aggarwal, Anubhav; =
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Nicolay, Christi L.; Yeung, Charles
Subject: RE: RTO Week -- Summary of Standards and Practices Panel


RTO Week

<?xml:namespace prefix =3D o ns =3D "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:offi=
ce" /<

Day 4 - October 18, 2001

Afternoon Session

=20

Standardizing Markets, Business, and Other Practices=20

Panelists for this discussion were: Sarah Barpoulis, PG&E National Energy =
Group; William P. Boswell, GISB; Bill Burkes (substituting for David J. Chr=
istiano), City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri; David N. Cook, NERC Gene=
ral Counsel; Michael Kormos PJM Interconnection; LeRoy Koppendrayer, Minnes=
ota Public Utilities Commission; and Marty Mennes, Florida Power & Light Co=
mpany.

=20


General Observations


=20

The Commissioners were all present the majority of the time (Massey left la=
te in the afternoon). FERC Staff was active in the discussion; however, t=
he commissioners were very active as well, asking perhaps as much as 70% of=
all questions. There was a general consensus that standards were needed; =
much discussion focused simply on how much and by who. The Commission seeme=
d very interested in leaning what they needed to do to move the industry fo=
rward and how far they needed to go. Panelists urged the need to mover for=
ward as quickly as possible, but both they and FERC seemed to recognize tha=
t some of the issues regarding standardized market design and such needed t=
o be addressed before RTOs could really begin to move forward. There was d=
iscussion on identifying which industry group (NERC or GISB) would take the=
reins in the future. On an interesting tangential note, there was noticea=
ble conflict between NERC and GISB, with veiled insults between the two org=
anizations somewhat common during the discussions.=20

=20


FERC Deliverables


A great deal of the discussions focused on identifying what the industry ne=
eded from the Commission. Staffers probed all panelists to find what they =
felt was critical. =20

The first major topic was "How many RTOs? What is their scope?" All panel=
ists seemed to agree that this question needed to be answered immediately b=
y FERC, in strong definitive language. N o one offered any specific langua=
ge, but seemed to be urging FERC to issue a formal statement.

The next topic was, "What will be standard market design?" Panelists varie=
d on this, but most felt strong guidance from FERC is urgent. Some urged f=
or one mandatory design for North America, one supported a set of rigid sta=
ndard designs, one supported a single design with requests for exceptions (=
followed by an in-depth review process), and one seemed to prefer the curre=
nt situation.

The commission in general seemed to be very interested in understanding wha=
t the industry needed to move forward. They continually visited this topic=
throughout their discussions, asking questions like, "Do we need to issue =
a Mega-Order that addresses all these issues?" and, "How much detail do you=
need us to provide?" General feel from the panelsists seemed to be they =
wanted strong leadership in this areas. Kormos and Burkes went so far as t=
o say FERC should "Mandate as much as they felt comfortable - and then go a=
little further." Others seemed to be a little worried about this idea, bu=
t in general did not oppose the concept, citing only general warnings and t=
he need for cautious investigation. =20

One item of interest: Wood referred to the filing made by the Electronic Sc=
heduling Collaborative and specifically asked if the items identified in th=
e "RTO Design and RTO Implementation" section would address many of the que=
stions and uncertainty facing the industry with regard to RTO design. Korm=
os indicated that clear and specific answers to these questions specifying =
a course of action would go a long way toward guiding the industry. The se=
ction to which Wood referred was one that I wrote, and asked the following =
questions:


? Congestion Management - When Operational Security Violations occu=
r, how is the system to be stabilized in a fair and equitable manner that i=
s nonetheless efficient? Will LMP based systems be standard, or will there=
be others that must be accommodated?


? Transmission Service - Are transmission services required to sch=
edule ("covered" schedules only), or are they risk management tools protect=
ing from congestion charges (both "covered" and "uncovered" schedules are a=
llowed)?=20


? Loop Flows - Are contract-path based or flow-based transmission =
services appropriate? If contract-path based, how are parallel path issues=
to be addressed?


? Grandfathered Transmission Service - Should contracts existing pr=
ior to RTO development be transferred, or is there an equitable way to reti=
re those contracts? Are there other solutions?


? Energy Imbalance Markets - How are imbalance markets to function?=
Will they serve as real-time energy markets (support unbalanced schedules)=
, be limited to supplying needs of imbalance service (require balanced sche=
dules), or will they be required at all?


? Ancillary Services - Will ancillary service markets be developed =
in standard ways? Will entities be required to actually schedule ancillary=
services (required to schedule), or will they be treated primarily as fina=
ncial instruments (protecting against real-time POLR charges)?


? Losses - Can we utilize the imbalance markets to support losses? =
Can we create specific loss standards that facilitate the scheduling proce=
ss, or must we support methods that are currently in tariffs, but technical=
ly unwieldy?


? Non-Jurisdictionals - How are non-jurisdictionals to be integrate=
d into the new world? Should systems be designed with the assumption that =
non-jurisdictional will be part of an RTO? Or should they be designed to t=
reat each NJE as a separate entity?


Hopefully, FERC will use this section as a template to answer these critica=
l questions in an assertive manner, and give some solid direction in which =
to move. Kormos emphasized the need for concrete answers to these questions=
, pointing out that vague answers (i.e., "do congestion management") will t=
ake a year or two to resolve, but specific answers (i.e., "LMP with financi=
al hedging instruments") will take only months. The Commission asked Mike =
about moving forward, and he told them that effectively, it was impossible =
to move forward with implementation without getting these issues addressed.

Now for a funny point - One of the commissioners (I think Breathitt) refer=
red to some concerns expressed in the Northwest that their high concentrati=
on of hydro power makes LMP inefficient for the Northwest. Kormos flat out=
said, "My profession is understanding how power systems work, and I don't =
believe that that statement is true." He then backpedaled a bit and said t=
hat it would need more study, but he stood by his statement that the assert=
ion by the Northwest interests was false.


NERC and GISB


A great deal of discussion focused around the need for a single standard-se=
tting organization. Massey went so far as to ask, "Are we looking at a bea=
uty contest between NERC and GISB?" Cook and Boswell then went into severa=
l short polite jabs at each other's organizations. Other participants cont=
inually reiterated the need for ONE, INDEPENDENT organization. Interesting=
ly, Boswell was very emphatic about the established trust and respect in GI=
SB, while Cook preferred to only talk about the "new" structure of NERC and=
did not focus on its history.

Brownell offered some not-too-subtle passive support of GISB by pointedly a=
sking both Cook and Boswell if they lobbied political positions (i.e., were=
they not only an organization but also a stakeholder?). GISB was easily a=
ble to say they were not, but NERC of course had to admit to their romancin=
g of Congress and the Bush administration for reliability legislation. Poin=
t, Brownell.

Mennes acted as somewhat of a supporter for NERC, playing Dave Cook's yes-m=
an. He probably did them a little bit of harm by pointing to NERC's suppos=
ed "successes," such as TLR and E-Tag. If staffers have tenure, they will =
likely remember that these "successes" have not been so successful, resulti=
ng in several filings and interventions. We may also wish to file comments=
in specific objection to these claims, to refresh their memory and to show=
the pretty picture Marty painted was in fact a fiction.

There was a little discussion about splitting reliability and market issues=
, but general consensus was that I could not be done. There was also some =
talk of folding NERC under GISB/EISB.

The arguments began winding down after a some time, and Boswell strongly ur=
ged the Commission to speak to industry executives and advocacy group leade=
rship to see whether NERC or GISB should lead the industry forward. NERC s=
omewhat less enthusiastically supported this position. In general, I would=
say it was a close fight but GISB came out more on top.

Let me know if you have any questions.


Andy Rodriquez
Regulatory Affairs - Enron Corp.
andy.rodriquez@enron.com
713-345-3771=20