MISO obtained a one-time waiver of the deadline for its 2017/18 capacity auction after FERC last week agreed that technical difficulties on the RTO’s market platform was reason enough to extend the offer window.

While MISO normally closes the three-day offer window for its Planning Resource Auction at 11:59 p.m. ET, it said last year network connectivity issues caused by a hardware failure forced it to extend the window until 12 p.m. on April 1. Without the extension, at least one market participant would have been unable to submit or modify its offers during the final hours of the auction on March 31, according to the RTO.

In its ruling last week (ER17-2113), FERC said that extending the offer deadline ensured “all market participants had the requisite time under the Tariff to submit their auction offers.” The additional time “provided sufficient, but not excessive, time for market participants to submit or modify offers,” the commission said.

MISO had assured the commission that the waiver will “not have undesirable consequences and that no third parties are harmed.”

All 10 zones in the RTO cleared at $1.50/MW-day during the 2017/18 Planning Resource Auction, a result of new supply and lower demand in the Midwest. (See All Zones at $1.50/MW-day in 5th MISO Capacity Auction.)

Consumer rights watchdog Public Citizen questioned the waiver, claiming MISO failed to adequately describe what caused the connectivity issues or to explain what corrective actions it has planned “to avoid such disruptions in the future.” FERC disagreed with the group’s contention that MISO should have to provide additional evidence or detail any future plans stemming from the mishap.

― Amanda Durish Cook