Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending its regulations at 18 CFR 38.2 to incorporate by reference business practice standards adopted by the Wholesale Electric Quadrant of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) to categorize various demand response products and services and to support the measurement and verification of these products and services in wholesale electric energy markets. This rule ensures that participants in wholesale energy markets where demand response products are administered receive standardized access to information that will enable them to participate in those markets and addresses performance evaluation methods appropriate to use for demand response products. This rule facilitates the ability of demand response providers to participate in electricity markets, reducing transaction costs and providing an opportunity for more customers to participate in these programs, especially customers that operate in more than one organized market. It also provides a foundation for further business practice standardization efforts, and participants in the NAESB process can use these standards to identify those elements for which standardization would be beneficial. Further, adoption of measurement and verification standards will improve the methods and procedures for measuring accurately the performance of demand response resources and assist in monitoring demand response services for potential manipulation.