Customer Focus Should Guide FERC on Grid Resilience

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today filed joint and individual comments recommending specific actions the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) should take to support a cleaner and more affordable, reliable, and resilient electric grid.

The current action stems from the misguided coal and nuclear bailout the U.S. Department of Energy proposed in 2017. FERC rightly rejected the proposal in January 2018 and asked regional grid operators to assess the current state of resilience measures already in place. In March, grid operators submitted reports to FERC that generally concluded the grid is resilient, and uneconomic coal and nuclear plants are not necessary to keep the lights on. EDF’s comments today support these conclusions and provide a set of recommendations on improving resilience that are cost-effective, market-driven, and customer-centric.

“Customers pay the biggest price when the lights go out, through electricity bills and other harm to their health and property. And since most outages occur due to damages on the poles and wires that deliver Americans electricity, focusing resilience improvements on this part of the grid will ensure customers recover quickly and cost-effectively.”

• Michael Panfil, Director of Federal Energy Policy and Senior Attorney