Idaho Power Company, FERC Docket No. NP11-200-000 (June 29, 2011)
Reliability Standard: FAC-013-1
Requirement: R2
Violation Risk Factor: Medium
Violation Severity Level: Moderate
Region: WECC
Issue: In February 2010, Idaho Power Company (IPCO), as a Planning Authority, self-reported that it did not respond to a request by WECC Operations Planning, its Regional Reliability Organization, to provide its Transfer Capabilities by December 18, 2009 as required. Instead, IPCO did not respond until January 12, 2010.
Finding: IPCO agreed to pay a penalty of $10,000 and to undertake other mitigation measures. WECC found that the violation only posed a minimal risk to bulk power system reliability since IPCO actually submitted its Transfer Capabilities less than one month after the due date. Plus, IPCO had last submitted its Transfer Capability data to WECC on December 5, 2008 and its current submission did not contain any material changes from the previous version. The duration of the violation was from December 18, 2009 through January 12, 2010. In approving the penalty amount, NERC found that the violation was self-reported; IPCO was cooperative during the enforcement proceeding and did not conceal the violation; IPCO had a compliance program in place (which was evaluated as a mitigating factor); and there were no additional aggravating or mitigating factors.
Penalty: $10,000
FERC Order: Issued July 29, 2011 (no further review)
Unidentified Registered Entity, FERC Docket No. NP11-218-000 (June 29, 2011)
Reliability Standard: FAC-013-1
Requirement: R2
Violation Risk Factor: Medium
Violation Severity Level: Moderate
Region: WECC
Issue: The Registered Entity self-reported that it had not promptly responded to a request for Transfer Capability updates according to the deadlines specified by WECC.
Finding: WECC and the Registered Entity entered into a settlement agreement to resolve multiple violations, whereby the Registered Entity agreed to pay a penalty of $130,000 and to undertake other mitigation measures. WECC found that the FAC-013-1 violation constituted only a minimal risk to bulk power system reliability since the Registered Entity’s three-week delay in providing its updates to WECC did not delay the final drafting of the WECC Path Rating Catalog. The duration of the FAC-013-1 violation was from November 14, 2008 through December 5, 2008. In approving the settlement agreement, NERC found that there were three instances of noncompliance with Regional Reliability Standard PRC-STD-005-1 WR1 (which was evaluated as an aggravating factor); some of the violations were self-reported; the Registered Entity was cooperative during the enforcement process and did not conceal the violations; the Registered Entity had a compliance program in place (which was evaluated as a mitigating factor); the penalties for the violations of Reliability Standards EOP-001-0 R6 and EOP-005-1 R2 were aggregated since both penalties were based on a single act of noncompliance; the penalties for the violations of Reliability Standards PRC-STD-005-1 WR1 and VAR-STD-002b-1 WR1 were based on the respective Sanction Tables; and there were no additional aggravating or mitigating factors.
Penalty: $130,000 (aggregate for 27 violations)
FERC Order: Issued July 29, 2011 (no further review)
