Transmission upgrades of $20 million or more and all “greenfield” transmission proposals will be charged a $30,000 fee under an Operating Agreement revision approved by the Members Committee Thursday.

The proposal by LS Power was approved by an 84% sector-weighted vote after an earlier proposal by the Regional Planning Process Task Force, which would have charged only greenfield projects, fell short of a two-thirds majority. The task force’s proposal was approved by the Markets and Reliability Committee in October. (See PJM Members Approve $30K Fee on ‘Greenfield’ Tx Proposals.)

The result is a victory for LS Power and other nonincumbent transmission developers, who contended it was unfair to charge greenfield projects only.

PJM officials said that upgrades by transmission owners typically did not require the intensive engineering analysis that the fee is intended to pay for. “There is virtually no cost in evaluating these proposals,” said Steve Herling, vice president of planning.

The fee will be re-evaluated after a two-year trial.