TC Ravenswood Seeks FERC Preemption of N.Y. PSC Black-Start Order

TC Ravenswood has filed a complaint at FERC regarding the New York PSC's September order that generators are required to obtain the PSC's consent, pursuant to Public Service Law (PSL) §70, to discontinue blackstart service.

TC Ravenswood desires to cease blackstart service, but under the PSC's order (see 9/29) it may not do absent PSC approval, which has not been addressed to date.

TC Ravenswood argued in its complaint at FERC that blackstart service is a wholesale matter under FERC's jurisdiction. TC Ravenswood claims that public utility commissions in other states could similarly allege jurisdiction over wholesale issues by citing "public interest, safety and reliability concerns," as done by the New York PSC, if FERC does not intervene.

However, this ignores the unique jurisdiction retained by the New York PSC, given that electric restructuring did not occur through legislation in New York.

Specifically, Public Service Law Article 4 establishes the PSC's jurisdiction over corporations engaging in the generation, transmission, distribution, sale or furnishing of electricity. Under the New York regulatory regime, the "flexible" application of Article 4 afforded to competitive generators by the New York PSC upon restructuring did not carry with it a general exemption from all of the substantive provisions of that Article.

"Rather, it left generators clearly subject to certain PSL Article 4 regulation of their activities. In particular, we refused to waive the application of PSL §70 to EWGs [exempt wholesale generators]," the PSC noted in its September order, citing subsequent orders concerning lightened Article 4 regulation which explicitly provided that EWGs remain subject to PSL jurisdiction with respect to matters such as safety, reliability and system improvement.