AAI Comments on the FERC’s Notice of Inquiry on Competition Analysis for Electricity Mergers and Market-Based Rate Authority

In comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Docket RM16-21, the AAI offered suggestions on how the Commission can update and improve its analysis of competitive issues in electric utility merger applications and requests for market-based rate authority.

The comments note that the Commission’s approach would benefit from a conformed approach across the two areas of jurisdiction and recommends modifications to the current approach. The AAI comments address issues ranging from the types of tests required by the Commission to screen for competitive concerns and analyze competitive effects, capacity measures used in calculating market shares, minimizing the use of safe harbors and blanket authorizations, to the importance of requiring applicants to file analyses with FERC that are provided to the antitrust agencies.