Dive Brief:
- ISO New England has developed a contingency plan which details plans to delay integrating demand response until the Supreme Court determines the status of Order 745.
- Argus Media reports the grid operator anticipates delaying integration a year, which would halt demand response market participation until 2018.
- The Supreme Court is expected to decide this month whether it will reconsider a circuit court's decision that FERC had gone too far in regulating demand response markets.
Dive Insight:
Observers say the Supreme Court could decide this month whether or not it will reconsider the D.C. Circuit Court's decision last year to vacate Order 745, which gave FERC authority over demand response in wholesale markets.
If the court takes up the case, a decision could be delayed until next summer, Argus Media reports. But if it declines to take the case, upholding the circuit court's decision, New England ISO said demand response could participate but not receive payments for being dispatched.
The delay means demand response will likely not participate in New England until 2018, because the grid operator anticipates two years to fully integrate the resource. The region is far from alone in its struggles — uncertainty has become the new constant for demand response providers across the nation since FERC Order 745 was vacated.
In February, environmental and consumer advocates urged the Supreme Court to consider the appeal, which they say hurt markets and stands to upend a well-understood regulatory environment. The Natural Resources Defense Council filed the brief, and was joined by public advocates in six jurisdictions.
Order 745 covered demand response in energy markets, but the fallout from the D.C. Circuit decision extended beyond after FirstEnergy filed a court challenge the use of demand response in capacity markets in PJM Interconnection's territory.
