$4 Million Settlement for Reliability Standards Violations
On December 1, 2011, FERC issued an order approving a settlement among FERC, NERC and PacifiCorp related to a large disturbance that occurred in the Western Interconnect on February 14, 2008. The disturbance resulted in the immediate loss of approximately 2800 MW of generation in PacifiCorp's territory and ultimately shedding of 183 MW of load, affecting approximately 74,000 customers in the service area of Rocky Mountain Power, with an average outage of 25 minutes.

 

After a multi-year investigation, FERC and NERC staff found that PacifiCorp, in its capacity as Balancing Authority and Transmission Operator, violated 23 requirements in 15 Reliability Standards. While neither admitting to or denying these violations, PacifiCorp agreed to pay a civil penalty of $3,925,000.

 

This constitutes the second largest civil penalty to have been issued under Section 215 of the Federal Power Act and it is related to the $350,000 civil penalty levied upon the Western Electricity Coordinating Council based on its predecessors' actions as Reliability Coordinators during the February 14, 2008 event.

 

To access FERC's order on the PacifiCorp settlement, please click here.

 

For more information, please contact Joel deJesus at 202-296-1500 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .