NERC Standards and Standards Compliance - Still a Work in Progress
A brief presentation by three ScottMadden partners who are actively engaged in supporting clients with this most important issue Cristin Lyons, Jere Jacobi, and Richard Starkweather.
It's a challenging time for companies in the electric industry. One reason: the ongoing changes in the regulatory environment, particularly the new North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reliability standards. Currently, 102 approved reliability standards exist, and the number seems to increase every month. These new standards dictate more than 1,000 requirements and sub-requirements for transmission owners and operators and generation owners and operators who risk paying financial penalties of up to $1 million per day if they fail to comply.
Since the June 2007 approval of the NERC reliability standards utilities around the country have been busy evaluating their compliance in terms of current operating procedures as well as documentation/evidence necessary to show compliance. Many companies have found that the level of effort required to conduct this compliance self-assessment, address any mitigation issues, and assemble the relevant documentation is much greater than they anticipated.