On April 16, 2015, FERC issued Order No. 809, "Coordination
of the Scheduling Processes of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines and
Public Utilities," in furtherance of its goal to improve the
coordination of wholesale natural gas and electricity market
scheduling in order to ensure the reliable and efficient operation
of the nation's natural gas pipeline and electric
systems. In issuing Order No. 809, FERC explained that as the
nation increasingly relies on natural gas for electric generation,
FERC has identified a mounting concern related to this growing
gas-electric interdependence and a misalignment between the gas and
electric operating days.
Order No. 809 follows a March 20, 2014 Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking ("NOPR") (see March 21, 2014 edition
of the
WER), which proposed to amend FERC's rules
relating to the scheduling of transportation service on interstate
natural gas pipelines in order to (i) better coordinate with the
scheduling practices of the electric
