FERC Chair Exceeded Authority in Remand Request of Ratemaking

The chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission exceeded his authority when he moved for a remand of a ratemaking challenge without the support of any other commission members, a federal court said.

The language of the federal law that created FERC “establishes the default expectation that a quorum majority must decide the Commission’s policy and dealings with the outside world,” the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said Thursday.

Pricing orders qualify as actions requiring approval from a quorum majority, the panel said, and none of the chair’s specific responsibilities provide “a unilateral authority to undo a ...