Enforcement Standards of Conduct for Transmission Providers
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Final Rule
On October 16, 2008, FERC issued Order No. 717 adopting a series of reforms to the Standards of Conduct for transmission providers that will simplify and strengthen the rules. The new rules are designed to:
- Foster compliance,
- Facilitate Commission enforcement, and
- Conform the Standards of Conduct to the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation v. FERC .
The Standards include three primary rules:
- The “independent functioning rule,” that requires transmission function and marketing function employees to operate independently of each other;
- The “no-conduit rule” that prohibits passing transmission function information to marketing function employees; and
- The “transparency rule,” that imposes posting requirements to help detect any instances of undue preference.