Plain-English version of the procedural detail. Section 205 and Section 206 of the Federal Power Act are the two ways a transmission tariff gets changed. Section 205 is operator-initiated — PJM (or any RTO) files a proposed tariff change with FERC, and the burden is on opponents to prove it's unjust and unreasonable. Section 206 is FERC-initiated — FERC opens a proceeding against the existing tariff, and the burden is on the RTO to defend it. Wednesday's orders were Section 206. The default path is that each of the six RTOs has 30 days for a reliability report and 60 days (~Aug 17) to either justify the current tariff or propose reforms. But the orders include a third option: file a request for abeyance within 45 days (~Aug 2) with enough detail about a Section 205 tariff filing the RTO plans to make on its own. If FERC grants the abeyance, the show-cause is paused while the Section 205 filing proceeds. Why that matters: Section 205 lets the RTO set the terms of the proposed tariff and put the burden on opponents to prove a fault. Section 206 puts the RTO on the defensive. The same substantive tariff change, run as a 205 instead of a 206, is structurally easier to win and faster to litigate. FERC Chairman Swett emphasized in the order that the commission 'leaves room for and encourages' filings under Sections 205 and 206 — language that reads as an explicit invitation to use the 45-day window.
Primary source · Akin Gump — analysis of FERC show-cause orders ↗
Why it matters
Two implications for the corpus and for site-readiness timing. (1) The interesting filing date is not Aug 17 anymore — it is Aug 2. The first RTO to file a credible abeyance request sets the template every other RTO can either copy or distinguish itself from. The corpus should be monitoring all six RTO docket pages every business day starting now, not waiting for the 60-day mark. (2) For sites in pre-approval right now, the question 'what tariff regime will my interconnection cost-allocation be litigated under' has a binary fork: if the local RTO files for abeyance, the answer is whatever Section 205 tariff they propose; if not, the answer is whatever FERC orders under 206 after a contested proceeding. Those two paths produce different cost-allocation outcomes on different timelines and developers/hyperscalers should be tracking them per project.
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