FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Frances Owen | fowen@epsa.org | (202) 628-8200
EPSA President: The Commission should focus on improving results and not imposing preferred approaches to reliability and resource adequacy
WASHINGTON, DC—Yesterday, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing to examine the three new commissioners named by President Biden to serve on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The three nominees are David Rosner, Lindsay S. See, and Judy W. Chang.
The Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) supports a FERC whose core mission is ensuring reliable power, adequate energy infrastructure, and well-functioning competitive markets to deliver those outcomes in the most cost-effective way possible for consumers.
“FERC needs to focus on its authority as an economic regulator that ensures a reliable electric and gas system,” EPSA President and CEO Todd Snitchler said. “We need a Commission laser focused on the reality of system operations and the growing delta between aspirational goals and operational realities. These nominees signaled they understand and support that priority.”
FERC has an essential role to play as the highest regulatory body for the U.S. bulk power system. These nominations come at a time of heightened scrutiny on the power system’s performance amid the push for lower-emitting energy sources and a rapidly evolving resource mix. FERC also faces growing calls to facilitate better coordination between the natural gas and electric industries to reflect the critical role that gas plays in preserving electric system reliability.
During the hearing, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La) asked if investment in the nation’s natural gas infrastructure should be continued. All three nominees agreed natural gas continues to be needed to power a reliable grid for the nation.
David Rosner stated, “First and foremost, the Commission’s job number one is reliability. The American people need it. They expect it. They deserve it.”
These nominations come at a pivotal time, as experts continue to warn that the electric grid faces a growing reliability crisis driven by premature retirements of dispatchable resources like natural gas. This trend threatens to derail U.S. ambitions around electrification, manufacturing growth and more, if rapidly expanding demand is not met reliably and cost-effectively.
“The Commission should focus on improving results and not imposing preferred approaches to reliability and resource adequacy,” Snitchler stated. “FERC must start looking beyond merely wires and transmission reform to how the entire system, including much needed natural gas infrastructure, will be authorized, approved, and paid for in the new and evolving operational paradigm in which we live and work.”
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The Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) is the national trade association representing America’s competitive power suppliers. EPSA members provide about 150,000 MW of reliable and competitively priced electricity from environmentally responsible facilities using a diverse mix of fuels and technologies including natural gas, wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, storage, biomass, and coal. EPSA seeks to bring the benefits of competition to all power customers. Learn more at www.epsa.org and connect with us on LinkedIn and X @EPSAnews.
