Did you oppose the Transource Independence Energy Connection transmission project ordered by PJM in 2016 to run through York and Franklin Counties, Pennsylvania?
THANK YOU!!!
After years of battle, PJM has finally re-evaluated IEC and made the determination that it causes uncontrolled congestion and reliability concerns starting in 2030. You can read PJM's re-evaluation here, beginning at page 19.
If you had not stood up to PJM and delayed this project like you did, it would be built and causing problems right now. You saved PJM's ass!
It's about time PJM acknowledged that IEC was a folly that never should never have been approved.
However, Transource has managed to spend $107.96M (that's millions, folks!) on this project, and it's going to want its money back. That's right, we'll all get to pay Transource back for all the money it spent harassing landowners, conducting turtle hunts and netting bats, and of course all its costs to pursue appeal of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission's denial of a permit for this loser project.
PJM has *still* not abandoned this project. It is still "suspended." As long as it is suspended, ratepayers are on the hook for anything Transource spends on lawyers to pursue its appeal. The appeal is currently before the Third Circuit. You can read the PA PUC's brief here.
If PJM abandons IEC, then we stop paying for Transource's lawyers, but PJM has not done that. Here's why... Transource's appeal to PA state court was unsuccessful, so it bumped it up to federal district court. That judge found that the PA PUC's denial was unlawful because the PUC should be forced to accept PJM's determination of need for the project and was prohibited from making its own evaluation of need. Essentially, that court decision hamstrings all state utility commissions from making their own determination of need for new transmission and makes them subservient to the RTO's findings of need for a transmission project. It turns the PUC into a kangaroo court, where they must rubber stamp an RTO's need for a project. This is incorrect on so many levels, but the only way to set things right again was for the PUC to appeal the district court's decision to the federal circuit court. And that is where it currently sits.
Never mind that PJM has now found that the project isn't really needed after all, PJM wants to have the power created by that federal district court decision to usurp state authority to make the need determination required by state law going forward.
And the costs continue to rack up...
If PJM actually officially abandons IEC (instead of leaving it in a suspended state) the handouts would cease and Transource would have to proceed to FERC to have them determine how much of Transource's costs will have to be repaid by ratepayers. When PJM ordered IEC, Transource went to FERC and asked them for a rate of return of 10.4% and special incentives for the project. One of those incentives is what is known as the Abandonment incentive. That incentive, granted by FERC, allows Transource to make a filing to collect all its sunk costs that are determined to be prudent in a future filing, plus the 10.4% rate of return. Transource says it spent $107 MILLION dollars, and once PJM abandons the project, it is likely that FERC will order ratepayer reimbursement.
It's all over but the payback.
Shame on Transource for spending so much money on a project that never stood a chance of being approved!
And shame on PJM for approving this project in the first place and avoiding its ultimate abandonment!
THANK YOU!!!
After years of battle, PJM has finally re-evaluated IEC and made the determination that it causes uncontrolled congestion and reliability concerns starting in 2030. You can read PJM's re-evaluation here, beginning at page 19.
If you had not stood up to PJM and delayed this project like you did, it would be built and causing problems right now. You saved PJM's ass!
It's about time PJM acknowledged that IEC was a folly that never should never have been approved.
However, Transource has managed to spend $107.96M (that's millions, folks!) on this project, and it's going to want its money back. That's right, we'll all get to pay Transource back for all the money it spent harassing landowners, conducting turtle hunts and netting bats, and of course all its costs to pursue appeal of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission's denial of a permit for this loser project.
PJM has *still* not abandoned this project. It is still "suspended." As long as it is suspended, ratepayers are on the hook for anything Transource spends on lawyers to pursue its appeal. The appeal is currently before the Third Circuit. You can read the PA PUC's brief here.
If PJM abandons IEC, then we stop paying for Transource's lawyers, but PJM has not done that. Here's why... Transource's appeal to PA state court was unsuccessful, so it bumped it up to federal district court. That judge found that the PA PUC's denial was unlawful because the PUC should be forced to accept PJM's determination of need for the project and was prohibited from making its own evaluation of need. Essentially, that court decision hamstrings all state utility commissions from making their own determination of need for new transmission and makes them subservient to the RTO's findings of need for a transmission project. It turns the PUC into a kangaroo court, where they must rubber stamp an RTO's need for a project. This is incorrect on so many levels, but the only way to set things right again was for the PUC to appeal the district court's decision to the federal circuit court. And that is where it currently sits.
Never mind that PJM has now found that the project isn't really needed after all, PJM wants to have the power created by that federal district court decision to usurp state authority to make the need determination required by state law going forward.
And the costs continue to rack up...
If PJM actually officially abandons IEC (instead of leaving it in a suspended state) the handouts would cease and Transource would have to proceed to FERC to have them determine how much of Transource's costs will have to be repaid by ratepayers. When PJM ordered IEC, Transource went to FERC and asked them for a rate of return of 10.4% and special incentives for the project. One of those incentives is what is known as the Abandonment incentive. That incentive, granted by FERC, allows Transource to make a filing to collect all its sunk costs that are determined to be prudent in a future filing, plus the 10.4% rate of return. Transource says it spent $107 MILLION dollars, and once PJM abandons the project, it is likely that FERC will order ratepayer reimbursement.
It's all over but the payback.
Shame on Transource for spending so much money on a project that never stood a chance of being approved!
And shame on PJM for approving this project in the first place and avoiding its ultimate abandonment!
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