FERC Issues New Civil Penalty Guidelines

On March 18, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) issued a policy statement and new civil penalty guidelines (Penalty Guidelines) intended to add fairness, consistency and transparency to future civil penalty determinations.¹ Although the Commission previously declined to adopt a guidelines approach, it explained in the Policy Statement that it now believes the advantages of such an approach outweigh the disadvantages and that it has gained sufficient experience to employ a guidelines approach as a significant factor in considering civil penalties.

The Penalty Guidelines are modeled on the U. S. Sentencing Guidelines and are discretionary only. FERC's prior policy statements on enforcement, as well as its policy statement on compliance remain valid, but any conflicts would be resolved in favor of the Penalty Guidelines.