DOE Staff Report to the Secretary on Electricity Markets and Reliability

Secretary Rick Perry directed the Department of Energy (DOE) staff to develop a report including an assessment of the reliability and resilience of the electric grid and an overview of the evolution of electricity markets. The study contains a comprehensive analysis and series of recommendations from the Department of Energy staff meant to inform and guide policy makers, regulators, and the general public in future conversations about the challenges America faces. It finds that as a result of market and policy forces, there have been increased premature shutdowns of a significant number of baseload nuclear plants, which the report recognizes may potentially harm the overall reliability and resilience of the national electric grid. Among the report’s key recommendations is for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to move forward on its work with states and regional markets to reform price formation in competitive wholesale markets. FERC should also require that reliability services are compensated in the marketplace.