NERC Petitions FERC For Approval Of Revised Bulk Electric System Definition And Exception Request Procedure

On January 25, 2012, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ("NERC") filed two related compliance filings, a petition seeking approval of a revised Bulk Electric System ("BES") definition in the NERC Glossary of Terms Used in Reliability Standards ("BES Petition") and a petition seeking approval of a BES Exception Request procedure ("Procedure Petition"), with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC").¹ NERC filed these petitions in response to FERC directives in Order No. 743 to: (i) submit a revised definition of BES, which determines the facilities subject to mandatory NERC Reliability Standards, as applicable across all Regional Entities; and (ii) develop a procedure for entities seeking to obtain an exception from the BES definition for a particular facility.²