U.S. Senator Susan Collins today released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report she requested that examines government oversight of the nation’s regional electricity transmission organizations. The study finds that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has not performed adequate oversight of the nation’s six regional transmission organizations (RTOs). GAO found that expenses for the six RTOs overseen by FERC (California, New England, Midwest, New York, Mid-Atlantic, and the Southwest) totaled $4.8 billion from 2002 – 2006, with ISO-New England’s portion around $567 million.
The report was requested by Senator Collins along with Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), who are Ranking Member and Chairman, respectively, of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The report concluded that FERC’s oversight of RTO costs is inadequate, relying on the public to bring concerns to its attention, rather than doing its own audits of RTO budgets. This means that overspending by RTOs can go undetected unless a citizens’ group has the time and resources to pour through FERC’s web page to look for issues. GAO recommends that FERC establish a formal process to regularly evaluate RTO costs and FERC agreed to do so.
“Regional Transmission Organizations like ISO-New England were intended to improve reliability of electricity service and lower costs, yet since their inception more than 15 years ago, Mainers have only seen dramatic increases in their electricity prices,” said Senator Collins. “I initiated this investigation out of concern that lax oversight by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has meant that RTOs have contributed to increased costs for consumers. GAO’s conclusions confirmed my concerns, and I will work to ensure that FERC quickly implements this report’s recommendations.”