Texas QSE to Pay $28,000 to Settle Alleged Failure to Update Operating Plan, Offer Curve

GDF Suez Energy Marketing NA, Inc. would pay $28,000 under a settlement with Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas to resolve alleged violations of PURA § 39.151 (d) and (j); P.U.C. SUBST. R. 25.503(f)(2), related to oversight of wholesale market participants; and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Protocols §§ 3.9(7) and 6.4.3.1, related to current operating plans and energy offer curves for RUC-committed resources, respectively

Each Qualified Scheduling Entity (QSE) must submit a revised Current Operating Plan (COP) reflecting changes in Resource availability as soon as reasonably practicable, but in no event later than 60 minutes after the event that caused the change.

According to the settlement, GDF Suez's COP submittals on February 2, 2014 failed to reflect a change in the Resource status for three of its units within the required 60 minutes following receipt of a Reliability Unit Commitment (RUC) instruction from ERCOT.

According to an independent market monitor (IMM) investigation, it took GDF Suez approximately 3 hours to revise its COP to reflect the RUC instruction from ERCOT for all three units, the settlement states.

Additionally, prior to the end of the Adjustment Period for an Operating Hour during which a Generation Resource has been committed by ERCOT as part of a RUC process, a QSE shall ensure that an Energy Offer Curve (EOC) that prices all energy from LSL to HSL at the System Wide Offer Cap for the Operating Hours in the RUC commitment period has been submitted and accepted by ERCOT.

According to the settlement, on February 2, 2014, GDF Suez failed to update its Real Time EOCs to show all energy above the units' LSLs priced at the System Wide Offer Cap during the hours of the RUC period (hours ending 17 through 24 on February 2, 2014). This failure caused the three units at issue to operate at or near their HSLs during the RUC period when the units should have operated at or near their LSLs, the settlement states.

The settlement describes corrective actions GDF Suez has taken in response to the issues

Docket 43162