ERCOT stakeholders on Monday unanimously endorsed a protocol change that requires resources to file exceptional fuel costs that include contractual and pipeline-mandated costs, following negotiations between consumer representatives and a generator.
The Technical Advisory Committee had tabled the nodal protocol revision request (NPRR1177) during its regular May meeting to give the two groups an opportunity to work out their differences. They said their edits allow ERCOT to determine ineligible costs, clarify that exceptional fuel costs are distinct from fuel adders, and codify some of the attestation’s language. (See “Fuel-cost Discussion Tabled,” ERCOT Technical Advisory Committee Briefs: May 23, 2023.)
“I think we’ve landed in a good place,” Eric Goff, a member of TAC’s consumer segment, said during the virtual meeting.
“We’re supportive of the consumer comments,” said Constellation Energy Generation’s Andy Nguyen, the NPRR’s sponsor. “NPRR1177 is a vast improvement to what we have today.”
Constellation modified the attestation’s language to add that fuel costs be “accurate and variable” so that it is based on the resource’s actual dispatch. However, Nguyen said the NPRR still does not address a gap in the protocols where a mitigated resource has no cost recovery mechanism if it is uneconomically dispatched.
The revised version accepts ERCOT’s draft language presented during the May meeting. It also removes from the NPRR the complex task of developing standardized contract language. That has been referred to TAC’s Wholesale Market Subcommittee for additional discussion with the ISO’s staff.
A 2027 sunset date was modified to Jan. 1, 2025, to allow a permanent solution for the standardized contract.
TAC also re-visited NPRR1169, which expands the qualifications for generation resources that may be a firm fuel supply service resource or an alternate.
The Public Utility Commission urged additional discussion of the issue during its May 25 open meeting. The commissioners and ERCOT staff deliberated over safeguards to prevent facilities from being inappropriately disqualified if the qualified scheduling entity serves public needs through a gas distribution company elsewhere in the state.
The two staffs are working to ensure that pipelines providing firm gas supply to generators aren’t curtailed should the gas be designated for residential customers first.
Attorney John Arnold, who represents gas suppliers Kinder Morgan and Enterprise Products before both the PUC and the Railroad Commission, proposed an alternate definition for qualifying pipelines that addresses their deliverability at individual generators instead of systemwide.
TAC’s members declined to add comments to the NPRR, but ERCOT plans to file additional comments for the Board of Director’s consideration during its June 19-20 meeting.
