PJM Seeks Consumer Protections In AEP Deal, Calls Reliability Threats “Red Herring”
February 04, 2016
PJM Interconnection has filed a brief with Ohio regulators calling for consumer protections in AEP’s bid to have ratepayers guarantee income from the company’s coal-fired facilities. State regulators should restrict AEP from bidding its generation at levels below actual costs, which could allow it to suppress generation prices and discourage new power plants from being constructed, the grid operator said. It further added that the idea that AEP’s generation is necessary to reliability is a “red herring,” noting that Ohio has retired more than 6,000 MW of generation recently but it has all been replaced by a functioning capacity market.