News Release: December 15, 2005	View Printable PDF Version
Docket Numbers: ER05-1236-000, ER05-1235-000

Commission accepts independent transmission plans proposed by Duke, Midamerican

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today accepted two voluntary independent coordinator of transmission proposals - Duke Power's Independent Entity responsible for certain transmission functions, and MidAmerican Energy Co.'s Transmission Service Coordinator.

Under these proposals, the independent coordinators of transmission will evaluate and approve transmission service requests, calculate Total Transfer Capacity and Available Transfer Capability, operate the Open-Access Same-Time Information System, dispose of interconnection requests and coordinate transmission planning.

"Establishment of these independent transmission proposals should provide greater confidence in the independence and transparency in the operation of the Duke and MidAmerican transmission systems," said Commission Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher.

The Commission determined that MidAmerican's Transmission Service Coordinator proposal meets the "consistent with or superior to" standards set in Order No. 888, the Commission's landmark 1996 open access rule, for allowing deviations from the rule's pro forma Open-Access Transmission Tariff, or OATT. The Commission accepted the MidAmerican proposal with some modifications.

The Commission accepted Duke's proposal, noting it is "an improvement over the transmission service and transmission decision-making currently offered."

Duke Power, a division of Duke Energy Corp., submitted proposed revisions to its OATT, which calls for a third party to perform certain OATT-related functions on Duke's transmission system. "[T]he Independent Entity will provide increased transparency and will give market participants increased confidence that they can receive transmission service on a comparable basis to that received by Duke, and is consistent with or superior to the pro forma OATT," the Commission concluded.

Both Duke's and MidAmerican's proposals call for the utility to remain the owner and operator of the transmission system and continue to have ultimate responsibility for providing transmission service.

R-05-91

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