Power, gas industry groups oppose petition to change rules on trade association dues

摘要

Most major power and gas industry groups and their utility memberships strongly opposed a proposed change to accounting rules impacting dues paid to trade associations sought by the Center for Biological Diversity, or CBD. CBD in March asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to change its accounting rules to no longer presume that dues paid to trade associations that engage in lobbying or other influence-related activities can be recovered in rates. The environmental group argued in a petition for rulemaking (RM21-15) that the Edison Electric Institute, or EEI, and other trade groups “engage in and support controversial political activities,” such as “lobbying, campaign-related donations, and litigation.” Because of this, CBD said FERC should amend its accounting rules to require that all industry association dues be recorded in a way that makes those dues presumptively nonrecoverable instead of recoverable, thereby placing the burden on utilities to show why those dues should be passed on to ratepayers.