State Energy Insights: October 2025
Grid Reliability and Regulatory Updates from ReliabilityFirst
News & Updates
RF shares analysis of August 2025 Baltimore load shed event
ReliabilityFirst (RF) on Tuesday published the August 2025 Baltimore Load Shed Event ReliabilityFirst After Action Analysis. The report details and analyzes the Aug. 11, 2025 bulk power system disturbance that impacted approximately 4,000 customers in the Baltimore area for a duration of 28 minutes.
FERC to hold annual Reliability Technical Conference
FERC will hold its annual Reliability Technical Conference on Oct. 21 from 9:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m. ET. The event will take place at FERC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. and will also be live-streamed on the FERC website.
The event will open with a presentation from NERC President & CEO Jim Robb on the State of Reliability and will then feature two panel discussions.
During the first panel, “Leadership Perspectives on the State of the Bulk-Power System,” industry leaders will discuss key risks facing the grid and strategies to address these risks.
The second panel, “Ensuring Reliability with Large Loads,” will go into detail on how large loads can affect reliability and how utilities, grid planners, and regulators can best address this emerging risk. The full agenda is available here.
Federal and State Current Issues Collaborative to discuss energy permitting
FERC has announced that the next meeting of the Federal and State Current Issues Collaborative will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 12, from 8:30-10:30 a.m. PST in Seattle and via webcast.
The topic of the meeting will be energy infrastructure permitting, and a more detailed agenda will be released later this month. The collaborative was created by FERC and the state public utility commissions across the country to discuss and explore cross-jurisdictional issues of interest.
U.S. House of Representatives passes GRID Power Act
On Sept. 18 the U.S. House of Representatives passed the GRID Power Act (H.R. 1047), which would direct FERC to initiate a rulemaking to reform interconnection request procedures to “ensure that new dispatchable power projects that improve grid reliability and resource adequacy can interconnect to the electric grid quickly, cost-effectively, and reliably.”
The bill would also require FERC to update its Large Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements to allow transmission providers to submit proposals to FERC to prioritize dispatchable power projects in their queues. These proposals would demonstrate the need for the prioritization and how it would support grid reliability.
The bill would also require public comment and stakeholder engagement before proposals are submitted to FERC and would require FERC to approve or deny the proposals within 60 days of their submission. The bill now goes to the Senate for review.
U.S. House of Representatives introduces State Energy Accountability Act
A new House bill called the State Energy Accountability Act (H.R. 3157) would, if passed, amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) to require any state regulatory authority that implements an intermittent energy policy to conduct and publicly release an evaluation of that policy’s effects.
The evaluation must assess:
- The effects of implementing the policy on the reliability of the Bulk Power System in the State, including an assessment of the adequacy of available electric energy resources over a 10-year period
- The ability of intermittent resources to meet demand during emergencies, high demand periods, and extreme weather
- The effects on electric utility rates
- Whether reliable generation facilities removed from service to comply with the policy can be replaced with resources of equivalent accredited capacity
- The extent to which utilities must rely on out-of-state generation to maintain reliability
The bill says that States would “determine whether to adopt this standard” within one year of enactment and then publish the public evaluations within one year of that determination or the state’s adoption of an intermittent energy policy.
U.S. Senate Confirms Laura Swett, David LaCerte as FERC Commissioners
Last week the U.S. Senate confirmed Laura Swett and David LaCerte to serve as commissioners at FERC.
Ms. Swett has served as an energy regulatory attorney at Vinson & Elkins, and at FERC in the Office of Enforcement and as advisor to past FERC commissioners.
Mr. LaCerte has served as White House liaison and senior adviser to the director of the Office of Personnel Management. Previously, Mr. LaCerte served in the first Trump administration and held legal positions at private firms, the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
The commissioners were confirmed on a (51-47) party line vote. The confirmations will bring FERC to a 3-2 Republican majority.
Upcoming Events
Oct. 20, 2-3:30 p.m. ET | Tech Talk with RF
Coming up on the October edition of Tech Talk with RF, we’re focusing on cyber security for National Cyber Security Awareness Month.
Here’s what’s on the agenda:
- How to address the risk of insufficient trained OT cyber security personnel
Mike Holcomb, Fellow, Director – ICS/OT Cybersecurity, Fluor - ICS security without the guesswork: a risk-first approach
Stacy Bresler, Managing Partner, Archer Energy Solutions - CIP standards update
Lew Folkerth, Principal Reliability Consultant, External Affairs, RF
State Energy Insights from ReliabilityFirst: October 2025