Stakeholders call on FERC to remember consumer cost impacts in grid security debate

摘要

Policies to create financial incentives and expand cost recovery mechanisms for energy infrastructure security investments would burden consumers with higher costs without significantly bolstering the US power and natural gas sectors’ resilience to cyber and physical threats, industrial electricity consumers and a Midwest utility argued in comments filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Electric and gas utility Alliant Energy said “additional financial incentives for vague ‘resilience’ purposes will only serve to benefit shareholders, not the security of the grid or transmission customers.” The utility contended that attempts to define the “broad and somewhat nebulous concept” of resilience could “ultimately limit its application and efficacy,” and lead to the creation of counterproductive policies that encourage inappropriate and unnecessary grid investments. Incentives “that merely reinforce good business practice and security would provide a financial windfall to transmission owners without providing commensurate benefit to transmission customers,” Alliant said.