FERC’s Energy-Conservation Plan Thrown Out by Appeals Court
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A federal regulator’s plan to pay smart-grid companies including Comverge Inc. and consumers such as Alcoa Inc. for using less electricity was struck down today by a U.S. appeals court, handing a victory to utilities that argued the system would discourage power-plant investment.
The majority of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington agreed with the Electric Power Supply Association, whose members included PPL Corp. and Exelon Corp., that a federal rule encouraging electricity conservation “goes too far, encroaching on the states’ exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the retail market.”