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Protest of JERA purchase of New England Fossil Fuel Power Plants

By Tyson Slocum

On June 22, 2022 in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission docket EC22-71, Public Citizen filed a protest of the joint application for authorization under Section 203 of the Federal Power Act to sell three gas/oil fueled power plants in ISO-NE from the private equity firm Stonepeak to JERA Co. Inc. Our protest consists of four issues. First, the proposed transaction will result in significant concentration of power generation ownership by JERA in ISO-NE and NYISO that may threaten competition and rates. Second, the transaction involves assets that may qualify for special out-of-market payments administered by ISO-NE that require additional disclosure to assess the impact on competition and rates. To mitigate these two threats to competition and rates, approval of the transaction should be contingent on divestiture of JERA’s existing ISO-NE generation holdings. Third, we contest the privileged treatment of the purchase price of the power plants. Comparable sales information is widely available, and the public interest should require disclosure of basic information such as the purchase price of FERC-jurisdictional power plants. Fourth, more information is required on the transaction’s effect on concentration of voting in ISO-NE’s NEPOOL stakeholder process to determine whether it threatens rates.

Read the full, four page filing here: JeraCanal