By Rich Heidorn Jr.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — FERC Commissioner Tony Clark said last week that the commission has “a sense of urgency” to take action on price formation issues after initiating an inquiry into the subject more than a year ago.

“There’s active discussion going on on the 11th floor [of FERC headquarters] right now with regard to different options,” he said during remarks at the MISO Board of Directors meeting.

Clark said the commission could take action to improve price transparency and reduce uplift but that he is skeptical of the need for major change.

“The thing about the energy markets that’s not lost on any of us is they are our best operating markets. They tend to work quite well,” he said. “Personally I don’t think we need to upset the whole apple cart.”

The commission opened a docket to consider rule changes regarding uplift, price caps and related issues as a result of comments made at technical conferences on capacity markets and the grid’s response to the January 2014 polar vortex (AD14-14).

It closed comments in the docket in February, following a technical conference last September. (See PJM Under Scrutiny at FERC Uplift Hearing.)

Queue Reform

Clark said the commission also may open an inquiry on generator interconnection and queue reform.

“In the 15 to 16 years I’ve been on a regulatory commission, this issue never seems to go away,” he said. “But it does seem like it’s an opportune time for the commission to do one of these periodic checkups” to examine best practices.

“I don’t know how dramatic the reform effort will be or what it might take shape as, but it seems like it’s a good time to at least be opening an inquiry as to how things are going,” he continued, adding, “That’s more of a future topic; we’re not at the decision-making stage by any means.” (See related story, MISO Seasonal Procurement, Site Auctioning Proposals Face Opposition.)