Consumers Call on FERC to Drop Right of First Refusal From Its Proposed Rule On Regional Transmission Planning and Enforce Order 1000 Ahead of FERC Decision.

WASHINGTON – Electricity inflation continued to increase in January 2024 putting further financial pressure on consumers across the country even as headline inflation slows. Electricity inflation increased by 1.2% on a monthly basis, and 3.8% over the last 12 months. This compares to increases in the CPI of 0.3% and 3.1% in the last month and year respectively.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is poised to finalize its rule on transmission planning this spring, which will shape the future of the grid and embracing competition is key to tackling electricity inflation.

In a statement, Paul Cicio, Chair of the Electricity Transmission Competition Coalition, said: “Electricity inflation continues to escalate, driven by increases in electricity transmission rate increases. and it will continue to do so unless FERC embraces its Order 1000, a decade old regulation that was to usher in an era of transmission competition. Instead, FERC’s transmission NOPR backs away from competition and the lower rates it provides.”

Competitively bid electricity transmission projects have been shown to reduce costs to consumers by up to 40 percent according to The Brattle Group – assuming a conservative estimate, if only 33% of new transmission projects were competitively bid and there is an average cost savings of 40%, ratepayers could save an estimated $277 billion. If all new transmission projects were competitively bid at an average cost savings of 40%, ratepayers could save an estimated $840 billion by 2050.

Read more about the benefits of transmission competition in ETCC’s comprehensive report.