FERC's First Post-Order No. 872 Request for Relief from the PURPA Purchase Mandate
Interestingly, it was two Generation and Transmission cooperatives (ETEC and NTEC) that submitted the first "QM filing" under Order No. 872 and 18 C.F.R. §§ 292.309, .310, seeking relief from having to buy from small power production QFs (SPP QFs) over 5 MW. They filed their joint application
prior to the effective date of the Order No. 872, taking some risk that their application could be rejected on this ground. (They had never sought relief from the PURPA must-purchase obligation before, so FERC presumably will process the application as to over 20 MW.) They are seeking relief for their member cooperatives as well. Perhaps the most interesting issue to watch in this case is FERC's response to the adequacy of the discussion of how the G&T cooperatives' distribution-owning members would work with any >5 MW SPP QF to ensure interconnection and wheeling services will be provided. The applicants notes that the Federal Power Act (FPA) would provide redress if access was not forthcoming. Given that the applicants' members are not FERC-jurisdictional and the fact that their members own