Cite as: 539 U. S. 39 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
Columbia Circuit denied the LPSC's petition for review of FERC Order No. 415. Louisiana Public Service Comm'n v. FERC, 174 F. 3d 218 (1999). With respect to the amendment, the Court of Appeals found that "FERC understandably concluded that [it] set out the parameters of the operating committee's discretion, and that discriminatory implementation of the amendment could be remedied in a proceeding under FPA § 206." Id., at 231.
ELI made its annual retail rate filing with the LPSC in May 1997. One of the contested issues was "whether payments under the System Agreement for the cost of generating units in Extended Reserve Shutdown should be included or excluded from ELI's revenue requirement." App. to Pet. for Cert. 25a. Given FERC's determination that the inclusion of ERS units as available prior to August 5, 1997 (the date FERC Order No. 415 issued), was just and reasonable, the LPSC confined its review to MSS-1 payments made after August 5, 1997. Its own staff argued before the LPSC that after August 5, 1997, ELI and the operating committee violated amended § 10.02(a) of the operating agreement by continuing to count ERS units as available. The LPSC concluded, however, that it was "pre-empted from determining whether the terms of a FERC tariff have been met, for the issue of violation of or compliance with a FERC tariff is peculiarly within FERC's purview." Id., at 64a.
Nevertheless, the LPSC held that it was not pre-empted from disallowing MSS-1-related costs as imprudent subsequent to August 5, 1997:
"[T]hough FERC has exclusive jurisdiction over the issue of whether the System Agreement has been violated, there currently exists no FERC order that has found that the Operating Committee's decision is in compliance with the System Agreement. In the absence of such FERC determination, this Commission can scrutinize the prudence of the Operating Committee's decision
45
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007