|
|
|
|
|
Texas QSE To Disgorge $28 Million, Pay $350,000 Penalty Under Settlement With PUC Staff
The following story is brought free of charge to readers by VertexOne, the exclusive EDI provider of EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Tenaska Power
Services Co. (TPS) would disgorge $28.2 million, and pay a penalty of $353,500, under a settlement with Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas to resolve alleged violations related to the alleged provision of incorrect telemetering and resource status, including alleged inaccurate telemetry of high
sustainable limits (HSLs) during Winter Storm Uri.
TPS is a QSE and does not own, operate, or
control any of the third-party owned resources represented in TPS's QSE portfolios.
Tenaska provided the following statement concerning the matter:
"Tenaska Power Services Co. (TPS) is the party settling with the PUCT. TPS is a Qualified Scheduling Entity (QSE) for numerous third parties who own and operate resources in ERCOT. Almost immediately after Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, TPS recognized that ERCOT had significantly overpaid TPS’s QSE for the energy and services provided by the third party resources represented by TPS’s QSE. TPS has been attempting to refund the overpayments to ERCOT, but ERCOT has been maintaining that the Protocols did not provide a mechanism for QSEs to return overpayments to ERCOT. Through this Settlement and proposed Commission Order, there will at last be a mechanism for TPS to refund to ERCOT the overpayments TPS received and has been trying to give back. Much of the overpayments were the result of faulty telemetry during the storm, and other resource level issues beyond the control of TPS. But under the Protocols, the QSE remains responsible for the actions of resources represented by the QSE. TPS is pleased to have this issue resolved, and to have the overpayments returned to ERCOT for distribution to the market.
--- Statement from Tenaska
The settlement states that, in February 2021 during Winter Storm Uri when ancillary services
imbalance payments were particularly high, TPS telemetered HSLs that did not accurately
represent the maximum sustainable energy production capability of certain resources
As stated in the settlement, the IMM determined that certain TPS-serviced
resources were not generating sufficient MWs to meet their required base points, indicating
that the telemetered HSLs could not actually be met.
TPS does not own or operate the resources at issue.
The settlement notes that TPS proactively
requested to refund HSL-related revenues that it should not have received, using ERCOT's
alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process. As noted in Tenaska's statement, the ERCOT ADR process at the time that TPS sought to refund the payments did not include a mechanism to accomplish such refunds through ADR (the ADR process has since been changed)
The revenue to be disgorged due to the inaccurately telemetered HSLs is about $28.1 million.
TPS would also disgorge about $71,000 for Real-Time Off-Line Reserve Price Adder (RTOFFPA) payments received for 22 intervals during February 16-17, 2021, when TPS telemetered certain relevant units as offline when, in fact, such units were on outage and not available for dispatch and thus ineligible for RTOFFPA payments
The settlement also states that PUC Staff allege that, from January 2016 through April 2021, TPS assigned
ancillary services to unqualified resources and that TPS was paid to keep capacity available
to provide ancillary services during these time periods, but was incapable of providing the
ancillary services assigned to unqualified resources.
"The parties agree that two different load resources owned by a common owner, independent
of TPS, led to a combination of 5,261 intervals in which the load resources were
inadvertently assigned ancillary services responsibilities when they were unqualified," the settlement states
The settlement also addresses an alleged failure to update a Current Operating Plan (COP)
The settlement states, "TPS was the QSE for a third party's combined cycle generation resource on January 16,
2018, and that resource's COP indicated an RSC [resource status code] of OFF under the resource's assumption
that same-day gas could be purchased if the resource received a RUC instruction.
Due to a cold weather event occurring in the ERCOT power region, at approximately 12:21
on January 16, 2018, TPS asked the resource if it could run the unit from approximately
16:00 through 22:00. About five minutes later, the resource determined that the fuel supplier
could not provide a same-day gas nomination at that time but would continue to look for
sourcing.
At 15:18, the resource received a RUC instruction for hours ending 18:00 through 22:00
because the COP showed an RSC of OFF, indicating the resource was available for
commitment.
At 15:35, after further discussions with the resource, TPS notified ERCOT it had learned
that the resource had no available natural gas to run and that the resource would enter a
forced outage. TPS then updated the COP for the resource, changing the RSC from OFF to
OUT."
The settlement discusses various remedial measures undertaken by TPS, including additional training, and reconfirming accountability standards
Docket 57437
ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Copyright 2024 EnergyChoiceMatters.com. Unauthorized copying, retransmission, or republication
prohibited. You are not permitted to copy any work or text of EnergyChoiceMatters.com without the separate and express written consent of EnergyChoiceMatters.com
December 16, 2024
Email This Story
Copyright 2024 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
• NEW! -- Manager / Director of Sales, PJM Commercial
|
|
|
|
|