American Paper Institute, Inc v. American Electric Power Service Corporation Federal Energy Regulatory Commission v. American Electric Power Service Corporation

• Decision Date: 16 May 1983
• Docket Number: 82-226,Nos. 82-34,s. 82-34
• Citation: 103 S.Ct. 1921,76 L.Ed.2d 22,461 U.S. 402
• Parties: AMERICAN PAPER INSTITUTE, INC., Petitioner, v. AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER SERVICE CORPORATION et al. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, Petitioner, v. AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER SERVICE CORPORATION et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

461 U.S. 402

103 S.Ct. 1921

76 L.Ed.2d 22

AMERICAN PAPER INSTITUTE, INC., Petitioner,

v AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER SERVICE CORPORATION et al.

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, Petitioner,

v. AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER SERVICE CORPORATION et al.

Nos. 82-34, 82-226.

Argued March 22, 1983.

Decided May 16, 1983.

Syllabus

Section 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) was designed to encourage the development of cogeneration facilities and small power production facilities and to reduce the demand for fossil fuels. Section 210(a) directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to prescribe rules requiring electric utilities to deal with qualifying cogeneration and small power facilities. With respect to utilities' purchases of electricity from such facilities, § 210(b) provides that rates set by FERC "shall be just and reasonable to the electric consumers of the electric utility and in the public interest," shall not discriminate against qualified cogeneration and small power facilities, and shall not exceed "the incremental cost to the electric utility of alternative electric energy." Following rulemaking proceedings, FERC promulgated a rule requiring utilities to purchase electric energy from a qualifying facility at a rate equal to the utility's "full avoided cost," i.e., the cost to the utility which, but for the purchase from the qualifying facility, would be incurred by the utility in generating the electricity itself or purchasing the electricity from another source. FERC also promulgated a rule requiring utilities to make such physical interconnections with cogenerators and small power producers as are necessary to effect purchases or sales of electricity authorized by PURPA. Upon review, the Court of Appeals vacated both rules, holding that FERC had not adequately explained its adoption of the full-avoided-cost rule, and that it exceeded its statutory authority in promulgating the interconnection rule, in view of § 210(e)(3) of PURPA, which provides that "[n]o qualifying small production facility or qualifying cogeneration facility may be exempted under this subsection from" specified provisions of the Federal Power Act (FPA) which require FERC to afford an opportunity for a hearing before ordering an interconnection.

Held:

1. FERC did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in promulgating the full-avoided-cost rule, which is the maximum rate permissible under § 210(b). Such rule plainly satisfies the requirement of § 210(b) that the rate not discriminate against qualifying cogeneration and small power production facilities. FERC also adequately explained why the rate is "just and reasonable to the electric consumers of the electric utility and in the public interest." Both the statutory language and the legislative history confirm that Congress did not intend to impose traditional ratemaking concepts on sales by qualifying facilities to utilities. And although FERC recognized that the rule would not directly provide any rate savings to consumers, it reasonably deemed it more important at this time that the rule would provide a significant incentive for the development of cogeneration and small power production, and that ratepayers and the nation as a whole will benefit from the decreased reliance on scarce fossil fuels and the more efficient use of energy. Pp. 412-418.

2. Nor did FERC exceed its authority in promulgating the interconnection rule. The authority granted by § 210(a) to promulgate such rules as are necessary to require utilities to deal with qualifying facilities plainly encompasses the power to promulgate rules requiring utilities to make physical connections with such facilities, and FERC reasonably interpreted § 210(e)(3) as forbidding FERC to exempt qualifying facilities from being the "target" of interconnection applications by other facilities under the FPA, but not as forbidding FERC to grant qualifying facilities the right to obtain interconnections under PURPA without applying for an order under the FPA. Such interpretation is supported by the purposes of PURPA and the statutory scheme created by both Acts. Pp. 418-423.

219 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 675 F.2d 1226, reversed and remanded.

Mr. Paul M. Bator, Cambridge, Mass., for petitioners.

Edward Berlin, Washington, D.C., for respondents.

Justice MARSHALL delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case concerns two rules promulgated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pursuant to § 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), 16 U.S.C. § 824a-3 (Supp. V). The first rule requires electric utilities to purchase electric energy from cogenerators and small power producers at a rate equal to the purchasing utility's full avoided cost, i.e., the cost the utility would have incurred had it generated the electricity itself or purchased the electricity from another source. The second rule requires utilities to make such interconnections with cogenerators and small power producers as are necessary to effect purchases or sales of electricity authorized by PURPA. The Court of Appeals held that FERC had not adequately explained its adoption of the full-avoided-cost rule, and that it exceeded its statutory authority in promulgating the interconnection rule. 675 F.2d 1221 (CADC 1982). We reverse.

I

A.

Section 210 of PURPA was designed to encourage the development of cogeneration and small power production fa- cilities.¹ As we noted in FERC v. Mississippi, --- U.S. ---, ---, 102 S.Ct. 2126, 2132, 72 L.Ed.2d 532 (1982) (footnote omitted), "Congress believed that increased use of these sources of energy would reduce the demand for traditional fossil fuels," and it recognized that electric utilities had traditionally been "reluctant to purchase power from, and to sell power to, the nontraditional facilities." Accordingly, Congress directed FERC to prescribe, within one year of the statute's enactment, rules requiring electric utilities to deal with qualifying cogeneration and small power production facilities. PURPA § 210(a), 16 U.S.C. § 824a-3(a) (Supp. V). With respect to the purchase of electricity from cogeneration and small power production facilities, Congress provided that the rate to be set by the Commission

"(1) shall be just and reasonable to the electric consumers of the electric utility and in the public interest, and

(2) shall not discriminate against qualifying cogenerators or qualifying small power producers.

No such rule prescribed under subsection (a) of this section shall provide for a rate which exceeds the incremental cost to the electric utility of alternative electric energy." PURPA § 210(b), 16 U.S.C. § 824a-3(b) (Supp. V).

Following rulemaking proceedings, FERC promulgated regulations governing transactions between utilities and those cogeneration and small power production facilities, designated as "qualifying facilities," 18 CFR 292.201-292.207 that may invoke the provisions of PURPA to sell electricity to and purchase electricity from utilities.

The first regulation at issue in this case, 18 CFR 292.304(b)(2) (1982), requires a utility to purchase electricity from a qualifying facility at a rate equal to the utility's full avoided cost. The utility's full avoided cost is "the cost to the electric utility of the electric energy which, but for the purchase from such cogenerator or small power producer, such utility would generate or purchase from another source." PURPA § 210(d), 16 U.S.C. § 824a-3(d) (Supp. V). See 18 CFR 292.101(b)(6) (1982) (the term full "avoided costs" used in the regulations is the equivalent of the term "incremental cost of alternative electric energy" used in § 210(d) of PURPA). In its order accompanying the promulgation of this rule, FERC explained its decision to set the rate at full avoided cost rather than at a level that would result in direct rate savings for utility customers by permitting a utility to obtain energy at a cost less than the cost to the utility of producing the energy itself or purchasing it from an alternative source. 45 Fed.Reg. 12214 (Feb. 15, 1980). The Commission emphasized the need to provide incentives for the development of cogeneration and small power production:

"[I]n most instances, if part of the savings from cogeneration and small power production were allocated among the utilities' ratepayers, any rate reductions will be insignificant for any individual consumer. On the other hand, if these savings are allocated to the relatively small class of qualifying cogenerators and small power producers, they may provide a significant incentive for a higher growth rate of these technologies." Id., at 12222.

The Commission noted that "ratepayers and the nation as a whole will benefit from the decreased reliance on scarce fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, and the more efficient use of energy." Ibid.

FERC rejected proposals that it set the rate for the purchase of electricity from qualifying facilities at a fixed percentage of the purchasing utility's full avoided cost:

"[I]n most situations, a qualifying cogenerator or small power producer will only produce energy if its marginal cost of production is less than the price he receives for its output. If some fixed percentage is used, a qualifying facility may cease to produce additional units of energy when its costs exceed the price to be paid by the utility. If this occurs, the utility will be forced to operate generating units which either are less efficient than those which would have been used by the qualifying facility, or which consume fossil fuel rather than the alternative fuel which would have been consumed by the qualifying facility had the price been set at full avoided cost." Id., at 12222-12223.

The second regulation at issue here, 18 CFR 292.303 (1982), provides that electric utilities shall purchase electricity made available by qualifying facilities, sell electricity to qualifying facilities upon request, and, most important for...