Supreme Court Hears Arguments On FERC Demand Response Policy

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 ("EPAct 2005") established a national policy to encourage reliable and affordable demand response services. Demand response refers to the ability of retail electric customers to reduce or shift their load when demand for electricity is highest in order to lower electricity prices and avert blackouts or energy shortages. Typical demand response participants include large industrial and commercial customers (for example, a factory might shift its production to the evening when electricity demand is lower, or a large retail chain might agree to set its cooling system one degree higher to reduce its load on an August afternoon), but several markets have created opportunities for aggregated small retail customers as well.