The Commission approved criteria for determining which NERC activities are eligible for cost recovery under section 215 of the Federal Power Act.

Reason for change:

A FERC audit issued last year recommended the development of the criteria.

Impact:

The criteria restrict funding to “statutory” activities such as those involving the development, monitoring and enforcement of reliability standards, along with related training.

FERC will use the criteria in approving NERC’s annual budgets. Expenses approved by FERC are eligible for cost recovery from end users.

The commission ruled that the proposed criteria were generally acceptable but required replacement of the term “involve or support” with the term “necessary or appropriate” as the basis for funding. The commission said the former term was too broad and provided no practical limitation on funding.