CPower Statement Regarding September 19 FERC Decision

BALTIMORE – Sept. 19, 2024 – The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) denied today a complaint that CPower Energy (CPower) filed against PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) to facilitate the expansion of residential demand response (DR).

FERC commissioners voted not to direct PJM to amend its Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT), manuals, and related governing documents in order to enable third-party Curtailment Service Providers (CSPs) to be able to serve residential customers. CPower had made the request in the Section 206 complaint that it filed against PJM on Sept. 28, 2023.

The following statement is from Ken Schisler, Senior Vice President of Law & Policy for CPower.

“CPower is disappointed that FERC did not take this opportunity to remove a real barrier that is limiting residential customer opportunities to participate in DR. Residential demand response is one of the most underutilized and cost-effective resources for making wholesale markets operate efficiently.

Today, residential resources are mostly sidelined because of the data access problem. This is a problem that will continue until either PJM, the state commissions or FERC acts to address it.

Unfortunately, the failure to address the data access problem is driving investment away from residential DR applications in the meantime. VPP innovators can’t invest millions of dollars in solutions unless they know they can get the needed data to participate. As of now, data access is at best uncertain and very difficult to obtain, and at worst, it is unavailable. While CPower was the first to raise its hand to say we have a serious problem here, I am afraid we won’t be the last.”

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