MEDIA BUZZ

NORTHWESTERN LOSES IN FRONT OF FERC

March 27, 2020

"We deny the Petition. The decision to issue a declaratory order is discretionary, and here we exercise our discretion and decline to address NorthWestern’s Petition and the various arguments raised in this proceeding. Whether or not avoided energy costs can be zero depends on the facts of the case, and here NorthWestern provides insufficient information upon which to base such a determination. In particular, NorthWestern asserts that the avoided cost rate for energy should be zero in Long-2 periods, that is, periods during which NorthWestern is long on generation in that, according to NorthWestern, partner contracts or reliability requirements make the resources “mustrun” and unable to be curtailed. However, we cannot determine if the resources are truly must-run because NorthWestern has not provided sufficient information regarding these partner contracts and/or reliability requirements."