§824s Transmission Infrastructure Investment

Summary

Within one year after August 8, 2005, the Commission must write rules that let utilities have incentive-based (including performance-based) ways to set transmission rates for sending electricity across state lines. The goal is to help consumers by keeping power reliable and lowering delivered power costs by cutting transmission congestion. The rules must push for more investment in building, improving, maintaining, and operating transmission lines and related equipment, no matter who owns them. They must offer a return on equity that attracts new investors. They must encourage new transmission technologies and other steps to boost capacity and efficiency of existing lines. The rules must let utilities recover all prudently incurred costs to meet mandatory reliability standards under section 824o and to carry out transmission infrastructure development under section 824p. Where the Commission has authority, it must provide incentives to utilities that join a Transmission Organization and allow recovery of those costs either through the utility’s transmission rates or through the Transmission Organization’s rates. All rates under these rules must still meet the just-and-reasonable and nondiscriminatory standards in sections 824d and 824e.