Regulatory Affairs news highlights: June 2025
Recent regulatory headlines we’re tracking include:
House subcommittee holds hearing on meeting growing energy demand
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Energy Subcommittee held a hearing on “Assuring Abundant, Reliable American Energy to Power Innovation” on April 30.
The witnesses at the hearing included Mike Goff, acting undersecretary of energy at the Department of Energy; David Morenoff, acting general counsel at FERC; and Terry Turpin, director of the Office of Energy Projects at FERC. The witness testimonies are included at the hyperlinks added to each witness’s name above.
There was general consensus among the witnesses and House members that it is important to add significant amounts of new generation to the system to meet the growing demand created in part by artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers. There was also bipartisan agreement on the importance of being competitive with China in the “AI race.”
While many at the hearing agreed that generation of all types will be needed to meet demand, debate centered around the proper mix of and incentives for renewables vs. dispatchable generation, and the specifics of recent executive actions of the Trump administration related to energy policy. Morenoff noted that given the country’s recent rapid load growth, it is important to add new resources to the system as well as retain existing ones.
The recorded hearing is available to stream online here.
There were several early versions of draft bills discussed during the hearing that had a reliability focus, including the Reliable Power Act, the GRID Power Act, the Power Plant Reliability Act of 2025, the Reliability Protection for States Act, the Electric Supply Chain Act, the Securing America’s Critical Minerals Supply Act, and the State Planning for Reliability and Affordability Act.
FERC holds technical conference on resource adequacy
FERC hosted a technical conference on resource adequacy on June 4-5, at the FERC headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Panel one included senior leadership from the RTO/ISOs and NERC and focused more generally on defining resource adequacy and identifying resource adequacy challenges that occurred across RTOs/ISOs.
Panels two, three, and four focused on resource adequacy in PJM, with panel three featuring a discussion between the FERC Commissioners and state representatives on the state of resource adequacy and the role of states in achieving resource adequacy in PJM.
Panels five and six focused on resource adequacy challenges specific to MISO, including a discussion with state representatives on resource adequacy.
The webcast recording for Day 1 of the conference is linked here and Day 2 of the conference is linked here.
FERC issues 2025 Summer Assessment
In mid-May, FERC released its annual Summer Energy Market and Reliability Assessment. The assessment states that higher than average summer temperatures and extreme weather events are expected this summer, as well as increased demand compared to prior years. Additionally, wholesale electricity prices are expected to be higher than last summer across most regions.
The assessment cites the NERC Summer Reliability Assessment’s finding that all regions should have sufficient generation to meet demand and operating reserve requirements this summer under normal conditions, but NPCC, MISO, ERCOT, and SPP may have challenges with generation availability during high heat events or low wind and solar output.
FERC staff note in the assessment that physical and cyberattacks on the grid have been on the rise and continue to pose a high risk, which increases when the grid is “under stress due to higher electricity demand and extreme temperatures.”
The assessment also discusses natural gas, stating that natural gas prices will be higher this year. On a positive note, natural gas pipeline transportation capacity has increased, which should help reliability in some regions of the country.
Regulatory Affairs news highlights: June 2025