The Western Area Power Administration’s non-jurisdictional Open Access Transmission Tariff does not meet the standard of an “acceptable reciprocity tariff,” despite recent revisions the federal power agency incorporated into the tariff, FERC ruled June 12. 

The commission’s ruling came in response to WAPA’s April 2023 request for a declaratory order affirming that tariff revisions the agency submitted to meet the requirements of FERC orders 676-I, 676-J and 881 conform with or are superior to FERC’s pro forma (OATT) and that the revised tariff satisfied the requirements for reciprocity status (EF23-5). 

The 676 orders, issued in 2020 and 2021, require transmission providers to incorporate certain North American Energy Standards Board standards into their tariffs, while 2021’s Order 881 requires providers to begin using ambient-adjusted ratings for their lines by July 12, 2025. 

While the commission determined WAPA’s tariff revisions complied with those three orders, it stopped short of granting reciprocity status because the agency said it would continue to defer implementing FERC Order 1000, the 2011 directive that intended to encourage development of interregional transmission projects by eliminating the right of first refusal for incumbent utilities. 

WAPA said it would need to continue delaying Order 1000 compliance until: 1) It can ensure final changes to the WestConnect transmission planning group’s regional planning documents do not conflict with the federal statutes governing WAPA and 2) it determines whether its Desert Southwest, Rocky Mountain and Sierra Nevada regions can continue to participate in that group. 

The power agency said it will consider altering its tariff to accommodate Order 1000 once FERC approves the changes to the WestConnect planning documents and after it completes a review of the needed tariff revisions and obtains input from its stakeholders. 

In denying WAPA reciprocity status, FERC also pointed out that WAPA has not yet complied with last year’s Order 2023, which directs RTOs/ISOs and other transmission operators to streamline their generator interconnection processes.  

“We find that WAPA’s proposed revisions to its tariff, including its ministerial changes, substantially conform with or are superior to the commission’s pro forma OATT,” FERC wrote. “However, for the commission to find that WAPA has an acceptable reciprocity tariff, WAPA must submit revisions to its tariff to incorporate changes the commission made to the pro forma OATT associated with Order Nos. 1000 and 2023. 

“Because WAPA has determined to defer implementation of Order No. 1000 to a later date, and because WAPA has not submitted revisions associated with Order No. 2023, we cannot find that WAPA’s tariff, as revised here, is an acceptable reciprocity tariff.”