Washington (Platts)--21Feb2013/654 pm EST/2354 GMT
US federal energy regulators have approved reliability standards for providers of demand response and energy efficiency services, saying the action would help providers participate in wholesale electricity markets, thanks in part to reduced costs. The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved "phase two" of business practice standards adopted by the North American Energy Standards Board. The standards apply only within markets operated by independent system operators and regional transmission organizations. The standards follow an initial set of standards adopted by NAESB in April 2009 that categorized various demand response products and services and were meant to address verification of these services. NAESB at that time said that more detailed technical standards would need to be developed in the future. FERC approved phase one of the standards in its Order 676 in April 2010. FERC in the order said "this phase of demand response standard development builds upon the work that has already been accomplished to provide demand response resources with opportunities to participate in organized wholesale electric markets, including accurate measurement and verification of demand response resources' participation." The action will help DR and energy efficiency resources by requiring RTOs and ISOs to document the methods used to evaluate performance of the resources, FERC said. On the energy efficiency standards, FERC said they will "facilitate energy efficiency providers' ability to participate in electricity markets by providing standardized measurement requirements and reducing transaction costs, and assure more effective evaluation of the performance of energy efficiency products and services." The standards will evaluate performance related to maximum base load, meter before/meter after, baseline for interval meters, baseline for non-interval meters, and metering generator output.--Jason Fordney, jason_fordney@platts.com --Edited by Lisa Miller, lisa_miller@platts.com