Consumer Savings Seen in FERC Plan

A plan by federal energy regulators to standardize U.S. power markets would save consumers about $1 billion a year and improve the nation’s electricity transmission network, the Department of Energy said in a report.

The report supports a plan by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to eliminate barriers for independent power producers to sell into utility markets. Regulators in California and other states have said the proposed rules are untested and won’t result in fair pricing.

The Senate is debating a national energy bill that would block the commission from issuing a final market-design rule before July 1, 2005. A House version of the legislation gives established utilities in some regions protection from competition by independent power producers.

From Bloomberg News