Staff Reports
The big news this week is ugly and predictable: nine investor‑owned utilities filed a complaint at FERC asking the commission to pause competitive bidding for major regional transmission projects across the MISO and SPP footprints. They want either broad exemptions when solicitations “slow” projects or a near‑five‑year moratorium. In plain English: incumbents want the first shot at building big power lines so they can keep the profits — and the public gets the bill.
What the utilities are asking FERC to do
The petitioners — including Ameren, Entergy, Evergy, Xcel, ITC, ATC, OG&E, Cleco and Empire District — want FERC to approve rules that effectively restore a right‑of‑first‑refusal for big regional projects. Their argument is about speed. They say competitive solicitations add 16–20 months to delivery for some lines and that big new customers need power now. So their remedy is to exempt projects from bidding or freeze competition for years.
Why ratepayers should be alarmed
Here’s the rub: transmission projects cost hundreds of millions or billions. Under our system those costs go into rate base and earn a guaranteed return. That means customers pay and utilities profit — whether the job was cheap or overpriced. Independent groups point to studies showing competitive bids have cut costs by double‑digit percentages on past projects. Consumer advocates and big industrial users warned FERC that this petition would hand incumbents a monopoly and raise bills for households and businesses.
A conservative case for competition
Conservatives should hate this because it mashes together government privilege and corporate protection. If you believe in markets, you don’t give the incumbent the right to block challengers. You fix the rules so projects build on time and on budget. Practical reforms are simple: require competitive bidding, end legal rights that lock out competitors, stop passing lobbying costs to ratepayers, and demand transparency on cost and schedule claims. If FERC needs tweaks to speed things up, reform the solicitation process — don’t kill competition.
FERC now faces a choice that will matter to every electric bill in the Midwest and Plains. Regulators can side with ratepayers and competition, or they can hand utilities another advantage and call it “efficiency.” If you like the idea of paying more so your monopoly provider can make more, sit back and enjoy the next rate case. If you don’t, tell your commissioners and ask FERC to keep the market open — because electricity should be about keeping the lights on, not padding profits with the public’s wallet.
