The parties involved in the rehearing on New England’s base return on equity (ROE) rate agreed to a timeline for settlement negotiations (EL11-66).
The parties met during a closed-door conference on May 17. Judge Judith Dowd has been appointed settlement judge, as reported by TransmissionHub.
According to the timeline, the participants will circulate their answers to FERC Trial Staff’s (Staff) questions on June 7.
On June 14, Staff will circulate their estimate of the ROE, along with the criteria relied upon.
On June 29, the complainants, including Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, who led the complaint, will circulate an offer, and on July 27, the respondents, including New England transmission owners, will circulate a counteroffer.
FERC will convene another settlement conference on Aug. 1.
Coakley and complainants on Sept. 30 filed a complaint with FERC seeking an order to reduce the base ROE used in calculating formula rates for transmission service under ISO-New England’s open access transmission tariff from 11.14% to a “just and reasonable” rate of 9.2%.
