On August 6, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) must reinvestigate alleged market manipulation in the 2015 capacity auction for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO).[1] MISO is the second largest regional transmission operator (RTO) in the U.S. and spans 15 states.[2] During the 2015 auction, capacity prices in the zone covering most of Illinois were 50 times higher than those across the rest of MISO. In their complaints to FERC, the state of Illinois, consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, and others allege that Dynegy Inc., which had just acquired four new power plants in the region, was responsible for the price spike. According to the state, the region in MISO was unable to meet its reliability requirements without purchasing capacity from Dynegy due to the company’s purchase of the power plants. Therefore, the clearing price was artificially inflated, costing the average residential customer an additional $131 in electricity costs in the 12 months that followed the capacity auction.

FERC dismissed the complaints in 2019 and dismissed the requests for rehearing in 2020, stating that the auction clearing price was just and reasonable. Then Commissioner and now-Chairman Richard Glick dissented in both orders, saying that the Commission did not adequately examine the complaints.[3] In response to FERC’s dismissal of the complaints, Public Citizen appealed FERC’s decisions to the D.C. Circuit. Similar to Chairman Glick’s previous findings, the three-judge panel found that the majority of commissioners failed to explain why the claims should be dismissed.

[1] https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/418CFCD8F8D7ED6F85258729004F14E5/$file/20-1156-1909243.pdf

[2] MISO covers all or a portion of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin

[3] https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/appellate-court-remands-miso-2015-capacity-auction-order-ferc