Power grid reliability rules OKd

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday approved first-ever reliability rules for the nation’s wholesale electricity grid, closing a chapter that started with the August 2003 blackout that left 50 million people in the dark.

The agency approved 83 separate standards that had been proposed by the North American Electric Reliability Corp., which the agency tapped last year to propose rules that it would enforce under the regulators’ oversight.

Commission Chairman Joseph Kelliher said the rules were “a landmark step” that would put the U.S. power grid under a mandatory enforcement regime for the first time.

Energy legislation signed into law in 2005 required the commission to implement mandatory, enforceable grid-reliability standards meant to prevent a repeat of the 2003 blackout that hit the Northeast and Canada. Before that, U.S. utilities operated under a voluntary enforcement regime overseen by the electricity reliability organization, and energy regulators had few tools to fine or punish violators.

Kelliher said the rules meant that the U.S. power grid would be better prepared to meet this summer’s anticipated stresses as electricity demand rises with soaring temperatures. July 2006 saw record power demand levels in eight U.S. grid zones, but they held up well with no blackouts.

The commission said that several reliability standards proposed by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. still “need significant improvement.” It directed the group to modify 58 of the 83 rules and held off on approving 24 remaining standards until it gets clarification.