NEM's 13th Annual National Energy Restructuring Conference - NEM will convene its 13th Annual National Energy Restructuring Conference at the Embassy Suites Hotel Washington D.C. Convention Center on April 27th & 28th, 2010. This year’s theme is “Renaissance in Energy Markets.” Topics of discussion will include Competitive Energy Supply, Demand, Prices and Economic Opportunities. Please use this hotlink to register for the event. We make your hotel reservations at the Embassy Suites Convention Center, Washington, DC at NEM's preferred rate of $289 per night per room.

We have already confirmed a number of key regulators and legislators and this promises to be a "can't miss" event. Confirmed participants include: Congressman James Clyburn, Majority Whip (D-SC); Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) (invited); Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) (invited); Jon Wellinghoff, FERC Chairman; Marc Spitzer, FERC Commissioner; Philip Moeller, FERC Commissioner; James Cawley, PAPUC Chairman; Alan Schriber, OH PUC Chairman; Douglas Nazarian, MDPSC Chairman; Manuel Flores, ICC Chairman; Orjiakor Osiogu, MIPSC Chairman; David Armstrong, KYPSC Chairman; Sharon Reishus, ME PUC Chairman; Betty Ann Kane, DCPSC Chairman; Erin O'Connell Diaz, ICC Commissioner; Robert Curry, NYPSC Commissioner; Catherine Pugh, MD State Senator; Jess Totten, TX PUC Director; and Eric Matheson, PAPUC Energy Advisor.

FERC has issued an extension of the Form 552 filing date to July 1, 2010, in view of its decision that it would be helpful to convene a technical conference on March 25, 2010, to discuss certain Form 552 issues.

The technical conference issues will be:
1) inconsistencies in reporting upstream transactions in the natural gas supply chain on Form No. 552, and whether these transactions contribute to wholesale price formation;
2) whether transactions involving balancing, cash-out, operational, and in-kind transactions should be reported on Form No. 552; and
3) whether the units of measurement (TBtu) currently used for reporting volumes in the form are appropriate.

An agenda for the March conference will be forthcoming. The full texts of the Notice of Technical Conference and Filing Extension are available on the NEM Website.

FERC issued an Order on a request for clarification of its capacity release program related to pipelines' selective discounting under Order 712 and 712-A (the Flow Through Order). Specifically, rehearing was sought of the instance, "where the releasing shipper’s service agreement expressly limits a discounted/negotiated usage or fuel charge to particular primary or secondary points, the pipeline must always treat the asset manager as similarly situated at those points, regardless of whether the asset manager uses those points to make deliveries to the releasing shipper." The Commission noted, "In the Flow-Through Order, the Commission declined to establish a blanket requirement that pipelines must always provide the same discounted or negotiated usage or fuel charges to an asset manager replacement shipper that it has provided to the primary firm shipper. Instead, the Commission determined that pipelines should apply the Commission’s existing selective discounting policy on a case-by-case basis in deciding whether to grant a discounted or negotiated usage or fuel charge to an asset manager replacement shipper, subject to a general requirement of no undue discrimination. The Commission explained that pursuant to the existing selective discounting policy, pipelines may grant discounts or negotiated rates based on the varying demand elasticities of their customers, and thus, pipelines may give discounts to some shippers but not others, including at the same point, if the shippers have differing demand characteristics." The Commission denied the request for clarification finding it would be inappropriate to make a blanket determination that an asset manager replacement shipper is always similarly situated to the releasing shipper if the asset manager uses points that the releasing shipper’s contract specifies as eligible for a discounted or negotiated usage or fuel charge. The Commission said there too many potential factual variables to make such a ruling. The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.