Mich. Load File Complaint Over Utility’s Split Balancing Authority Area, Impact on Backstop Costs
September 23,2014
The Michigan PSC, and Tilden Mining Company L.C. and Empire Iron Mining Partnership, filed separate complaints at FERC against NERC and Wisconsin Electric Power Company seeking reversal of NERC’s approval of WEPCO’s "unilateral" proposal to split its existing WEC Balancing Authority (BA) footprint into two new BAs: the Michigan Upper Peninsula Balancing Authority (MIUP BA) and the remaining portion of the existing WEC BA in Wisconsin.
The Mines currently participate in WEPCO’s retail access service program under Michigan's electric customer choice law and receive electric supply from an alternative electric supplier.
The Mines said that the split BA, "would produce a significant shift of System Support Resource ('SSR') costs to Michigan Upper Peninsula ('UP') ratepayers."
The PSC said that approval of the BA, absent clarification that the split BA will not have any impact upon the allocation of SSR costs, "could impose dramatic and unreasonable shifts in the allocation of SSR costs without providing any opportunity or forum for affected parties to be heard and present evidence concerning the impact of proposed changes to BA boundaries upon areas potentially outside of NERC’s purview, such as cost allocation."