Interim capacity procurement mechanism initiative

The California ISO will conduct a stakeholder process to discuss development of an interim capacity procurement mechanism that would be the successor to the current Reliability Capacity Services Tariff that expires on December 31, 2007. This mechanism would be filed with FERC in mid-September 2007 and effective before the end of 2007.

Outcome

The Interim Capacity Procurement Mechanism (ICPM) was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in an Order issued on October 16, 2008. The California ISO made a compliance filing on November 17, 2008, and FERC accepted the compliance filing on December 18, 2008. The ICPM tariff became effective on March 31, 2009 at the start of the new ISO market. The ICPM enables the ISO to acquire generation capacity to (1) maintain grid reliability if load serving entities fail to meet resource adequacy requirements; (2) procured resource adequacy resources are insufficient or (3) unexpected conditions, i.e., "Significant Events", create the need for additional capacity. The ICPM replaces the Transitional Capacity Procurement Mechanism tariff that became effective on June 1, 2008 and terminated upon the effective date of the new ISO market.

 /Documents/March27_2009InformationalFilingRegardingEffectiveDates-MRTUTariffSheetsindocketno_ER06-615_ER07-1257_etal_.pdf

In FERC's December 18, 2008 letter to the California ISO accepting the ISO's November 17, 2008 Interim Capacity Procurement Mechanism (ICPM) compliance filing, FERC directed the ISO to make an informational filing specifying the effective date of the ICPM tariff sheets being accepted prior to the implementation of the new ISO Market. This document is the ISO's March 27, 2009 informational filing, which states that the effective date of the affected MRTU tariff sheets is March 31, 2009, unless otherwise noted. Although the ICPM docket number is not specifically listed on the informational filing, the ISO only listed the docket numbers that were still pending a FERC order and the ICPM was not still pending.

 /Documents/December18_2008OrderAcceptingNovember17_2008RevisedSheetsModifyingICPMinDocketNo_ER08-556_ICPMAmendment_.pdf

This document is the December 18, 2008 letter from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accepting the California ISO’s (the ISO's) November 17, 2008 Interim Capacity Procurement Mechanism (ICPM) compliance filing in response to FERC’s October 16, 2008 Order accepting the ISO’s February 8, 2008 ICPM tariff filing subject to modification. The key language from the December 18, 2008 letter from FERC is provided below.

On November 17, 2008, the California Independent System Operator Corporation (CAISO) submitted revised tariff sheets modifying the Interim Capacity Procurement Mechanism (ICPM) in the CAISO Tariff to comply with the directives in the Commission’s October 16, 2008 Order.2 Your submittal is in satisfactory compliance with the October 16 Order and is accepted for filing effective upon implementation of the CAISO’s Market Redesign and Technology Upgrade (MRTU). The CAISO is directed to make an informational filing specifying the effective date of the tariff sheets being accepted herein prior to the implementation of MRTU.

The filing was noticed on November 20, 2008, with comments, protests, or motions to intervene due on or before December 8, 2008. No protests or adverse comments were received. Notices of intervention and unopposed timely filed motions to intervene are granted pursuant to the operation of Rule 214 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (18 C.F.R. § 385.214). Any opposed or untimely filed motion to intervene is governed by the provisions of Rule 214.

/Documents/November17_2008FilinginCompliancewithOctober16_2008.pdf