The representative of several NEPOOL End User sector members circulated a memo Thursday floating the idea of compensating the group’s officers for their time and non-reimbursed expenses.

William P. Short III said he wasn’t yet prepared to offer a proposal but wants to study the issue during the next few months.

Short proposed the effort because the End User sector has historically had difficulty getting its members to participate as NEPOOL officers because of the time commitment and expenses.

End User representatives may be self-employed individuals who cannot afford to donate the time necessary to act as vice chair, the memo noted. A similar situation could exist for consultants whose clients will not pay for the additional time necessary to act as NEPOOL officers and for employees whose employer will not agree to compensate them for filling the role. Short said the issue also exists in the Alternative Resources sector and other sectors with “small” participants.

Short said he does not yet have a specific compensation framework in mind but did offer concepts that range from a cash stipend to simple and capped reimbursement of any reasonable time and/or verifiable out-of-pocket expenses. Payments could be made to an individual or their organization or just turned down, and the funds returned to NEPOOL. Compensation would not be intended as a financial windfall but to make the participating officer economically whole for their work.

He added that he is seeking opinions from current and former NEPOOL officers to prepare a reasonable compensation proposal for consideration at a future PC meeting. Short wants to know how much time they spent on NEPOOL-related activities, what incidental expenses they incurred and whether the current system discourages potentially serving as an officer. He said anyone interested in talking to him could send written comments until May 1, and that he will treat answers as confidential if asked to do so.

Currently, all NEPOOL stakeholder meetings are held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There was no mention in Short’s memo about whether virtual meetings would factor into a future compensation proposal.

Energy Market Value Drops

ISO-NE’s energy market value for January was $354 million (through Jan. 27), down $96 million from the updated December evaluation, but up $57 million from the same month last year, according to the monthly report from COO Vamsi Chadalavada.

Natural gas prices were 5.4% lower than December’s average values, which dropped the average real-time hub LMPs to $37.16/MWh, down 11% from the prior month. Average natural gas prices and real-time hub LMPs were up 41% and 42%, respectively, from the same period last year.

Average day-ahead cleared physical energy during peak hours as a percentage of the forecasted load was 98.4% during January, down from 98.5% during November, with the minimum value for the month of 92.6% posted Jan. 18.

Daily uplift, or net commitment period compensation (NCPC) payments totaled $3.1 million over the period, down $500,000 from the adjusted December value and up $1.3 million from January 2020. NCPC payments were 0.9% of the energy market value.

Chadalavada said three new projects totaling 364 MW applied for an interconnection study, including two new battery storage projects and one PV project, with in-service dates in 2022 and 2023. There are 258 generation projects currently being tracked by the RTO, totaling approximately 24,200 MW, he said.

FERC Extends Filing Deadlines, In-person Meeting Waivers

The wavier of FERC regulations requiring that filings with the commission be notarized or supported by sworn declarations was further extended through July 30, according to the litigation report presented to the PC.

Entities may also seek waiver of FERC orders, regulations, tariffs and rate schedules, including motions for waiver of regulations that govern the form of filings, as appropriate, to address needs resulting from steps they have taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. FERC also extended the blanket waivers of RTO tariff in-person meeting and notarization requirements through July 30 as well.