What's Happening in Energy highlights the most interesting findings from public utility commission filings.
Read at your leisure, or choose your own adventure on Halcyon’s platform by opening the filings linked in each item or clicking and refining the queries suggested to explore the items at a deeper level using Halcyon’s capabilities.
What's Happening in Energy — Feb 20
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In PJM, the Market Operations Report shows the impacts of Winter Storm Fern on prices–and they’re pretty striking (check out the full report here).
Average daily gas prices deviated from the monthly average by up to 700% on January 27th. By extension, average Locational Marginal Prices (LMP), exhibited wonky behavior, fluctuating between a 150% and a 350% deviation from monthly average LMPs.
Collapsed into monthly average, January 2026 stands out in stark contrast to the previous two years.
The industry is still rolling out after-action reports on the impacts of Winter Storm Fern. If you want to monitor this high volume topic in an efficient way, sign up for this Halcyon curated alert. (And check out Halcyon’s full list of curated alerts on everything from Green Tariffs to Data Centers Powered by Gas!)
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In Wisconsin’s large load tariff proceeding for Wisconsin Electric Power (a.k.a. We Energies – see full docket profile and report), the Environmental Law and Policy Center submitted an American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) report examining energy efficiency’s potential to meet load growth. The report is so full of amazing charts and supporting narrative we had a hard time picking just one to share. Below is a favorite, but visit the full Halcyon blog for another visual depicting the scale of load growth from different sectors across regions in the US.
Energy efficiency is sometimes dismissed as a marginal source of capacity, but the chart below tells a different story. According to ACEEE, without energy efficiency, total US consumption would have grown from 76 quads (quadrillion BTUs) in 1980 to 184 quads in 2024. Without “structural change” in the economy, energy use would have approached almost 250 quads in 2024!
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In Georgia, Georgia Power is seeking to recover storm costs beyond its PSC-authorized annual accrual of $31.4 million. The utility reports an under-recovered balance of $912 million as of December 31, 2025. To alleviate rate impacts, Georgia Power proposes spreading recovery over four years – roughly $228 million annually. On top of this, Georgia Power also requests a new annual accrual amount of $329.2 million, based on a 10-year historical average of $101 million in storm costs. Adding in a return on the regulatory asset balance, Georgia Power’s requested revenue requirement just for storm recovery comes out to $360 million (rate case docket profile and testimony supporting storm cost recovery proposal).
Halcyon angle: Halcyon just released the latest version of its rate case tracker. Each rate case tracked includes 47 data points on requested vs. authorized return on equity, revenue requirement, debt/equity structure, and more. Get the data here.
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In MISO, the Market Subcommittee reviewed solutions to alleviate increasing reserve shortages. Since 2023, two reserve products, day-ahead (DA) Up Ramp Capability (URC) and real-time (RT) Operating Reserve (OR), have been in short supply. MISO procures these reserves to compensate for net load uncertainty. ORs are the fast-acting “highest-quality reserves” and the URC reserves are dispatchable resources that ramp up in 10 to 25 minutes.
According to MISO, “There has been a 314% increase in DA URC shortage hours, but only a 21% increase in the [Market Clearing Price] over the same time…A key underlying system driver is the increasing Dispatchable Intermittent Resources (DIR) (solar, wind,…) penetration leading to larger net-load ramps” (presentation).
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In Wisconsin, American Transmission Company (ATC) applied for a Certificate of Authority to construct a new 138 kV substation – Woodview Lane Substation – and re-build a transmission line. ATC estimates the project will cost $50.8 million.
The customer that ATC intends to support with this project is a large load. But this time it isn’t a data center – it’s a steel manufacturer called Charter Steel. Check out this snapshot from project maps of the proposed substation (the red triangle labeled “WOODVIEW LN”) roughly 1000 feet away from Charter’s facilities (docket profile and application with cost estimate).
Halcyon angle: We recently released the first version of our substation tracker. This tracker compiles key details on planned substation projects including equipment, voltage, location, costs, and more. So far we have much of the western US covered, and we’re working on getting full-country coverage with each new release. Reach out to access the full dataset here.
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In PJM, the Reliability Backstop Procurement Workshop is exploring a one-time procurement to bring new capacity online quickly. Four presentations ranging from guiding principles to reliability backstop auction (RBA) design were filed by: 1) Constellation, Vistra, AlphGen, and Earthrise, 2) the Independent Market Monitor, 3) the Cross-Sector Reliability Coalition with Talen, AWS, and CPV, 4) and the MD / PA / DE Consumer Advocates. View Halcyon’s summary of areas of agreement and open design questions. Charles River Associates also presented on the RFP evaluation and selection process. To monitor filings on this backstop procurement, try this shared alert, or for broader coverage monitor PJM Adequacy try this Halcyon curated weekly email alert.
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In Kansas, parties in a proceeding to continue Formula-Based Ratemaking (FBR) for Southern Pioneer, an electric cooperative, filed a Motion with the Corporation Commission to approve a unanimous settlement agreement (Motion and docket profile). The agreement outlined two plans for moving forward depending on if a Senate Bill (SB 348) that would exempt cooperatives like Southern Pioneer from retail rate regulation by the Commission passes in the state legislature. If the bill does not pass, the parties agree to continue FBR with three year terms instead of the current five years, increase the distribution equity cap to 20%, and maintain the current 120-day period for review after filing of updated rates. And if it passes, the agreement outlines plans for the Commission to review the cooperative’s Local Access Charge.
Halcyon angle: The compromise in the settlement agreement represents the culmination of a lengthy evidential record, full of different party positions on technical topics. Halcyon helped us understand these concepts, and how they apply to Southern Pioneer. To start, we queried the full docket for an overview of the unanimous settlement agreement (response). Then, since we are shameless about admitting when we do not fully understand utility jargon, we asked Halcyon to explain Formula-Based Ratemaking, Debt Service Coverage, and distribution equity caps in an easy-to-understand way (response). Finally, armed with a full understanding of the most important technical concepts and the settlement agreement, we asked Halcyon to describe the two paths forward depending on the passage of SB 348 (response).
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In ERCOT, Brattle submitted its report prepared for NRG and Google on the impact of ERCOT’s proposed Residential Demand Response (RDR) program on the adoption of demand response (full report). The program would incentivize DR by modifying the price signals received by retail electricity providers (REPs). The hope is that REPs would turn these price signals into DR programs for their customers. Check out a few of our favorite charts below.
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In Colorado Xcel Energy — Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) expanded the Residential Demand Response portfolio to include natural gas demand response through a new program called Heat Savers. Learn more about the goals, eligibility, incentives, and forecasted impacts. (docket profile)
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Also in Colorado, Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) is applying for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) to construct, own, and operate synchronous condensers at its Goose Creek and May Valley substations. PSCo argues that these facilities are necessary to provide reactive power and voltage support. We asked Halcyon to dive deeper into the different perspectives on the application.
Halcyon angle: Starting from the docket profile page, we clicked “Query” in the top right, and submitted the following question: “Explain the argument PSCo makes to justify its application for a CPCN. Why does it need the synchronous condensers? What are the main rebuttals to this argument? Define all acronyms.” Halcyon responded with a few key points and references to the main points of contention like whether or not PSCo can recover costs through a rider and the validity of the results given resource mix changes.
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And a bonus, in Massachusetts, Distrigas of Massachusetts LLC’s (DOMAC) filed its semi‑annual operational report for July–December 2025 with the FERC. If you are interested in detailed operational information on the oldest LNG import terminal in the US, this one is for you. The table below shows the quantity supplied to Constellation LNG from two cargos delivered in September and December 2025 (Report).
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Public Comment Excerpt(s) of the Week
In Texas, public comments are starting to roll in on the proposed 765 kV line that would run from Central Texas to the Permian Basin. The Public Utility Commission received many comments from residents concerned about the impact of one of Oncor’s proposed routes near the Dinosaur Valley State Park. After reading a few, one starts to notice some rhetorical patterns:
“First and foremost, the proposed 'Dinosaur Long-shore' would wrap around the state
park…the significant alteration that these lines would cause would directly affect the endangered golden-cheek warbler.”
“First, the impact to wildlife and wildlife habitat would be irreparable. It is well documented that golden-cheeked warblers breed at the Park and on surrounding properties.”
“First and foremost, the proposed ‘Dinosaur Long-shore’ would wrap around the state park…The visitor experience would also be degraded, in turn leading to fewer visitors to the park which would cause economic turmoil for the city of Glenrose, which heavily relies on tourism.”
“First it will destroy the mountain views and scenic character of the area. The primary value of my property is rooted in its natural landscape. The proposed 180-foot steel towers will act as a visual wall, permanently obstructing the iconic mountain views.”
New Docket of the Week
Four conservation groups petitioned the FERC to initiate a rulemaking clarifying the process of surrendering a hydropower license. Read a summary of the request including points like nearly 90% of FERC-regulated dams are over 50 years old, and almost half are over 100 years old (docket profile).