January 2010 Executive Committee Meeting - NEM’s Annual Winter Executive Committee Policy and Planning Meeting will be held January 19 & 20, 2010, at the headquarters of South Carolina Research Authority in Charleston, South Carolina. NEM’s room rate has been secured at $129.00 per room per night at the Hilton Garden Inn Charleston Airport, 5265 International Blvd., N. Charleston, SC 29418. The Executive Committee sets the course for NEM’s advocacy in the coming year at this meeting. Many thanks to Bill Mahoney and South Carolina Research Authority for the generous offer to host this meeting. Please use this hotlink to register.

As part of its on-going review, CFTC announced that it is examining whether the PJM WH Real Time Peak Daily contract, PJM WH Real Time Peak contract, PJM WH Real Time Off-Peak contract, PJM WH Day Ahead LMP Peak Daily contract, and PJM WH Real Time Off-Peak Daily contract that trade on ICE perform "Significant Price Discovery Functions."

Exempt Commercial Markets with SPDCs are subject to self-regulatory and reporting requirements and CFTC oversight authorities with respect to those contracts. Factors that CFTC will examine in making a determation of an SPDC include: the contract’s material liquidity, price linkage to other contracts, potential for arbitrage with other contracts traded on designated contract markets or derivatives transaction execution facilities, use of the ECM contract’s prices to execute or settle other transactions, and other factors. Comments are due November 10, 2009.

FERC Staff has circulated for review and comment a Discussion Draft of a National Action Plan on Demand Response. The document will be the subject of the discussion of a rescheduled technical conference on November 19-20, 2009, at FERC headquarters in Washington, DC. FERC is required by the Energy Independence and Security Act to develop a National Action Plan on Demand Response.

In the Draft, Staff proposes the formation of a coalition, comprised of different stakeholder groups, to implement the DR National Action Plan. "The coalition will implement the activities identified in the National Action Plan in order to enable stakeholders, such as states, to maximize the demand response resources developed and deployed. It would be responsible for coordinating the actions provided in the National Action Plan. The coalition would be tasked with developing or overseeing the development of technical assistance, the national communications plan, and tools and materials identified in the National Action Plan."

Comments on the Discussion Draft and Technical Conference discussions are due December 4, 2009. The full texts of the Notice of Technical Conference and the DR Discussion Draft are available on the NEM Website.