Enforcement 
Standards of Conduct for Transmission Providers
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Proposed Rule
On March 21, 2008, FERC issued RM07-1-000
a proposal of a series of reforms to the Standards of Conduct for transmission providers that will simplify and strengthen the rules. The current Standards of Conduct are codified in 18 C.F.R. § 358, as promulgated under Order Nos. 2004 and 690. The intent of the March 21, 2008 proposal to revise the Standards is to return to the core principles of the original Standards of Conduct in Order Nos. 497 and 889, which until 2003 addressed Standards of Conduct for, respectively, natural gas pipeline and electric transmission provider employees. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) proposes to revamp the Standards to make enforcement easier and compliance less elusive, provide clarity by rewording and reorganizing the Standards, avoid impeding business operations due to overly broad coverage and eliminate the concept of “energy affiliates” for both electric and gas companies.The NOPR is broken down into three rules:
- The “independent functioning rule” as used in Order Nos. 497 and 889;
- The “no-conduit rule” that prohibits both passing and receipt of transmission function information; and
- The “transparency rule” that improves transparency to detect, correct and sanction any undue discrimination.
