The Coalition of MISO Transmission Customers (CMTC) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider its approval of a 50-basis-point incentive adder for MISO membership.

FERC conditionally approved the adder last month, saying that the resulting base return on equity must be in the zone of reasonableness — 7.03 to 11.74%. The commission said that industrial customers, including the CMTC, had failed to provide sufficient evidence for their argument that TOs did not need an incentive to remain in the RTO. (See MISO TOs Can Collect Membership Adder — Once Base ROE is Found Just.)

In its rehearing request, the coalition said that FERC’s ruling violated Section 205 of the Federal Power Act, which holds that the burden of proof in a ROE-related filing falls on the filers, not the complainants. FERC “not only failed to hold the MISO [transmission owners] accountable for demonstrating that the RTO adder in this case is just and reasonable, but also effectively, and erroneously, shifted the burden onto protestors to show that the RTO adder is unjust and unreasonable,” the coalition said (ER15-358).

MISO TOs requested the adder last November. Industrials criticized the adder as an attempt to hedge against a potential decrease in the TOs’ base return on equity, which industrials have contended is too high. Settlement talks between the TOs and industrials broke down in December.

A FERC administrative law judge issued a schedule last month calling for written testimony beginning Feb. 23, with hearings beginning in August (EL14-12). (See ROE Talks Between MISO Industrials and TOs Collapse.)