US FERC okays $1.2 billion PJM settlement for outages during 2022 storm

By Nicole Jao

NEW YORK, Dec 19 (Reuters) -

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Tuesday approved a $1.2 billion settlement between PJM Interconnection and more than 80 parties that resolved complaints stemming from a massive outage during a 2022 winter storm.

More than 15 complaints were brought against PJM for non-performance charges following Winter Storm Elliott, which brought sub-freezing temperatures to two-thirds of the U.S.

Power plant owners that failed to deliver electricity during the storm were slapped with penalties under PJM's capacity performance framework.

The original settlement proposed $1.8 billion in non-performance charges against power suppliers including Energy Harbor and Calpine.

PJM, along with 80 other parties, filed a settlement package with the agency in September to resolve these complaints and avoid a potential litigation.

The parties also agreed to trim non-performance charges to $1.2 billion.

The settlement resolved all but one complaint made by Old Dominion Electric Cooperative.

PJM oversees electricity supply in a 13-state region, managing and paying on-call generators to keep power systems running.

FERC and the North American Electric Reliability Corp led a joint inquiry into the power outages and blackouts during Elliot and found the cold temperatures caused unplanned electricity generation supply losses of over 70,000 megawatts. (Reporting by Nicole Jao; Editing by David Gregorio)