Transmission Policy in the United States

This paper provides an overview of the development of electric power transmission access, pricing and investment policies in the U.S. over the last 15 years and evaluates the current state of those policies. It includes a discussion of pre-liberalisation transmission access and pricing policies, the prevailing basic transmission access and pricing rules contained in Orders 888 and 889, FERC’s policies regarding Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO) as reflected in Order 2000, and FERC’s subsequent Standard Market Design (SMD) proposal. PJM’s market rules and transmission pricing, planning and investment policies are reviewed as an articulation of FERC’s RTO and SMD visions.