The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy in September will hold hearings that will explore potential revisions to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), consider electric reliability issues and review and the Department of Energy’s recently released staff report on electric markets and reliability.
The House Energy Subcommittee announced on Aug. 30 that it will continue its “Powering America” series of hearings on electric power markets, generation, distribution, consumption, and grid resiliency with two hearings in September.
The series began on July 18 with a hearing entitled “Powering America: Examining the State of the Electric Industry through Market Participant Perspectives.” At that hearing, AMP Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lisa McAlister testified on current issues and developments in the electricity sector, and the American Public Power Association drafted a statement for the record.
The second hearing, “Review of the Operation and Effectiveness of the Nation’s Wholesale Electricity Markets,” took place on July 26, and witnesses from all seven Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs) testified on the status of wholesale electricity markets.
According to the Aug. 30 announcement, the third hearing of the series, “Powering America: Reevaluating PURPA’s Objectives and its Effects on Today’s Consumers,” is scheduled for September 6.
The subcommittee will reexamine PURPA, which was enacted in 1978 to promote the use of domestic energy, to determine whether reforms are necessary to ensure continued benefits to electric utility customers.
The fourth hearing, entitled “Powering America: Defining Reliability in a Transforming Electricity Industry,” is scheduled for Sept. 12.
The subcommittee will review electric reliability issues, grid resiliency, and the Department of Energy’s recently released staff report on electric markets and reliability.
