FERC, NERC And CAISO Settle 2011 Southwest Blackout Claims

On November 28, 2014, FERC approved a Stipulation and Consent Agreement ("Agreement") between its Office of Enforcement ("Enforcement"), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ("NERC") and the California Independent System Operator Corporation ("CAISO") relating to the 2011 Southwest blackout in Southern California, Arizona and Northern Baja Mexico that affected 2.7 million customers.  Under the terms of the Agreement, CAISO will pay a combined civil penalty of $6,000,000, with $2,000,000 divided equally among NERC and the U.S. Treasury, and $4,000,000 invested in reliability enhancements measures.  CAISO also agreed to commit to mitigation and compliance measures, and to submit semi-annual compliance reports to Enforcement for at least one year.