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Opinion of Thomas, J.
tion of interconnected transmission lines that cross state lines. Brief for Electrical Engineers 13. These lines are owned and operated by the Nation's larger utilities. No individual utility, however, has " 'control over the actual transfers of electric power and energy with any particular electric system with which it is interconnected.' " Id., at 15 (quoting Florida Power & Light Co., 37 F. P. C. 544, 549 (1967)). Electricity flows at extremely high voltages across the network in uncontrollable ways and cannot be easily directed through a particular path from a specific generator to a consumer. Fox-Penner 26-27. The "[t]ransfer of electricity from one point to another will, to some extent, flow over all transmission lines in the interconnection, not just those in the direct path of the transfer." Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia 1096 (D. Considine ed., 8th ed. 1995). The energy flow depends on "where the load (demand for electricity) and generation are at any given moment, with the energy always following the path (or paths) of least resistance." Brief for Electrical Engineers 13. The paths, however, "change moment by moment." Fox-Penner 27. And "[t]rying to predict the flow of electrons is akin to putting a drop of ink into a water pipe flowing into a pool, and then trying to predict how the ink drop will diffuse into the pool, and which combination of outflow pipes will eventually contain ink." Ibid.
Nonetheless, buyers and sellers do negotiate particular contract paths, "route[s] nominally specified in an agreement to have electricity transmitted between two points." T. Brennan, Shock to the System 76 (1996) (emphasis added).5
5 FERC notes that whether transmission is in interstate commerce "does not turn on whether the contract path for a particular power or transmission sale crosses state lines, but rather follows the physical flow of electricity." Order No. 888, Appendix G, at 31,968. FERC states that "[b]ecause of the highly integrated nature of the electric system, this results in most transmission of electric energy being 'in interstate commerce.' " Ibid.
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