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Despite the growing threat of cyberattacks, utilities in many countries lack consistent regulatory frameworks for hardening their systems against malicious actors, according to a new report from the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The groups produced Evaluating the Prudency of Cybersecurity Investments:...

SERC Reliability has seen no "significant issues" among its registered entities related to the COVID-19 pandemic, senior critical infrastructure protection compliance specialist Rick Dodd told attendees of the regional entity’s Q2 Open Forum. "It seems that the registered entities are doing a fabulous job. … Even with all the stay-at-home...

FERC last week approved penalty settlements for violations of NERC standards by Mississippi Delta Energy Agency (MDEA) and the Western Area Power Administration’s Rocky Mountain Region, along with an unnamed utility in the Eastern Interconnection. The violations carry penalties of $70,000 and $225,000 for MDEA and the unnamed entity, respectively.

ERCOT is working with federal officials to investigate a cybersecurity incident that resulted in the ISO sending a number of wire transfers to a fraudulent bank account last week. In a market notice issued Friday, ERCOT said the incident began when an attacker compromised a Microsoft Office 365 account belonging...

By Holden Mann FERC has agreed to defer the implementation of seven reliability standards scheduled to take effect this year (RM15-4, et al.), which NERC requested earlier this month "as a measure to help ensure grid reliability amid the impacts [of] the coronavirus outbreak." (See NERC Requests FERC Defer Standards...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. FERC on Thursday rejected a complaint by MISO’s Independent Market Monitor that PJM’s pseudo-tie requirement for external capacity resources is unjust and unreasonable (EL17-62). Before instituting the pseudo-tie requirement in 2014, PJM required only that external capacity resources maintain firm transportation to its border. But that...

By Holden Mann NERC’s Align software project is now set to be released in the first quarter of 2021, after the rollout date for the tool was revised last year from September 2019 to the second or third quarter of this year. (See Align Rollout Delayed to 2020.) Align —...

By Holden Mann NERC’s team updating the requirements for determining and communicating system operating limits (SOLs) is preparing for a 45-day comment period and formal ballot to begin April 23 (Project 2015-09). In a webinar earlier this week, standards drafting team chair Dean LaForest of ISO-NE said the team is...

By Holden Mann Citing the need to "provide registered entities with regulatory certainty" during the COVID-19 pandemic, NERC has requested that FERC delay the implementation of several reliability standards that are scheduled to take effect this year (RM15-4, et al.). The organization asked that FERC consider the request on an...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. FERC has extended the implementation deadline for the latest version of the North American Energy Standards Board’s (NAESB) Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities (RM05-5-028). The commission acted Friday at the request of SPP and MISO, which said the original July 27,...