PJM said it will change Manual 11’s rules regarding compensation for demand response despite a lack of stakeholder support.
In an unusual move, the Markets and Reliability Committee last month balked at endorsing the manual changes, which outline when Economic Demand Response qualifies for payment.
In an email to the Demand Response Subcommittee Friday, PJM’s Dave Anders cited a provision of the Operating Agreement that gives PJM the authority to make manual changes without a two-thirds member endorsement. “While PJM rarely exercises this right and responsibility, PJM has determined that this is the proper course of action in this case,” Anders wrote.
The changes were backed by only 57% of the MRC in a sector-weighted vote Feb. 27, with no End Use Customers and less than half of Other Suppliers voting in support. (See Manual Change on DR Compensation Rejected; 3 Others OK’d.)
Most Generation Owners and Transmission Owners voted in support of the changes, which specify that demand reductions are eligible for compensation only when they “are not implemented as part of normal operations.”
Load reductions “that would have occurred without PJM dispatch, or that would have occurred absent PJM energy market compensation” would be ineligible for compensation, according to the new rule.
PJM officials contend the manual changes only explained the RTO’s existing interpretation of FERC Order 745, and would not change operating practices.
But John Webster, of Icetec Energy Services, said the new language would give PJM too much latitude in determining the motives of DR participants and when they should be compensated. He said any revisions should be made through Tariff changes and subject to full stakeholder review.
