Regulatory Affairs news highlights: December 2025

 

Recent regulatory headlines we’re tracking include:

House hearing on cyber security includes requests for continued funding for situational awareness programs

The U.S. House of Representatives Energy Subcommittee held a hearing on “Securing America’s Energy Infrastructure: Addressing Threats to the Grid” on Dec. 2. The hearing witnesses were Michael Ball, CEO of the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC) and senior vice president at NERC; Sharla Artz, security and resilience policy area vice president at Xcel Energy, on behalf of Edison Electric Institute; Tim Lindahl, president and CEO of Kenergy, on behalf of National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA); and Zach Tudor, associate laboratory director, National and Homeland Security, Idaho National Laboratory.

Ball discussed the work of the E-ISAC, the threats posed by nation state actors, and recommended Congress support the DOE-led Energy Threat Analysis Center (ETAC) and funding for other programs that help smaller utilities and oil/natural gas companies access critical intelligence and improve situational awareness.

Artz discussed the importance of the NERC CIP Standards and TSA Security Directives (for natural gas infrastructure) and explained EEI’s “Culture of Security” initiative that includes peer reviews of security practices. She also encouraged ongoing funding for information sharing collaboration initiatives like ETAC.

Lindahl walked through the NRECA’s various cyber security programs and stressed the benefits and importance of funding for the DOE’s Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity Program (RMUC) for electric cooperatives.

Tudor gave an overview of cyber threats facing the electric sector and the role of the Idaho National Laboratory in cyber security, including cyber-informed engineering, and cyber and infrastructure testing.

A full archived webcast of the hearing is available here.

 

FERC issues 2025 report on enforcement activities

FERC has issued its 2025 FY Report on Enforcement, a summary of the Office of Enforcement’s
(OE) work over the past fiscal year. The report notes that the OE’s 2025 priorities were 1) serious violations of the Reliability Standards; 2) anticompetitive conduct; 3) threats to the nation’s energy infrastructure and associated impacts on the environment and surrounding communities; and 4) conduct that threatens the transparency of regulated markets.

During the year, OE opened 24 new investigations, brought 17 pending investigations to closure, and negotiated 13 settlements, 11 of which resolved investigations for a total of approximately $36.57 million. OE also completed 10 audits of public utility, natural gas, and oil companies. These activities as well as many others are discussed in the report, available here.

 

FERC issues Winter Energy Market and Electric Reliability Assessment

FERC released its 2025-2026 Winter Energy Market and Electric Reliability Assessment. The assessment projects a slightly warmer winter along the eastern seaboard, but with natural gas prices predicted to be 26% higher than last winter. Natural gas demand is forecasted to exceed production this winter, with the difference to be met by storage inventory withdrawals. Energy consumption is projected to be 2.7% above the five-year average, and there will be 56 GW of new capacity added across the country (made up mostly of solar and batteries).

The FERC assessment also states that all NERC assessment areas are expected to have adequate generating resources to meet expected winter demand and operating reserve requirements under normal operating conditions. However, under extreme weather conditions, areas of ERCOT, NPCC, SERC, and WECC face a higher likelihood of tight generation availability, which may require operational mitigations to prevent potential reliability issues. There is also discussion of the cold weather reliability standards and gas-electric coordination efforts.

 

NERC recognizes work of NARUC task force on gas-electric coordination, report with recommendations

NERC congratulated NARUC’s Gas-Electric Alignment for Reliability (GEAR) task force for issuing a report with nine recommendations on how to enhance gas-electric coordination, and stated that it looks forward to working with NARUC and the industry in implementing the recommendations.

The recommendations include: 1) creating a Natural Gas Readiness Forum; 2) supporting federal permitting reform to speed the rate of natural gas pipeline infrastructure development; 3) exploring gas storage opportunities; 4) fully understanding entity load-shed practices and if changes are needed; 5) improving natural gas market liquidity and transparency on winter weekends (when there is limited trading); 6) evaluating market tools to incentivize enhanced performance in extreme winter weather; 7) improving advance natural gas fuel procurement; 8) creating natural gas demand response programs; and 9) incentivizing timely and frequent use of interstate capacity release by utilities. The full report is available here.

 

DOE emphasizes work on dynamic line rating and other grid-enhancing technologies

The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a press release focusing on its work related to grid enhancing technologies (GETS), in particular dynamic line rating (DLR). The release describes the DOE’s efforts on DLR over the past 15 years and how DLR implementation by utilities has saved costs and improved performance. There is also discussion of a recent Energy Systems Integration Group report outlining actionable strategies to integrate GETs into grid planning, enabling faster and more effective adoption nationwide.

 

CISA issues guides on risks of drones and other unmanned aircraft systems, risks to critical infrastructure

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued three new guides on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS, such as drones) and the risks they pose to critical infrastructure. The three documents are: Unmanned Aircraft System Detection Technology Guidance for Critical Infrastructure (with details on systems that can detect, track, or identify UAS operating in the airspace), Suspicious Unmanned Aircraft System Activity Guidance for Critical Infrastructure Owners and Operators (on how to distinguish between routine and suspicious UAS activity, and respond to suspicious activity), and Safe Handling Considerations for Downed Unmanned Aircraft Systems (on how to prepare for and respond to downed UAS that may pose a safety or security concern).