Murkowski Insists on Regulatory Certainty in Electricity Markets

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: ROBERT DILLON (202) 224-6977

MARCH 9, 2010 or ANNE JOHNSON (202) 224-7875

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today said that Congress must work to provide regulatory certainty to the electricity markets.

“It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about climate change policy, energy legislation or banking reform – stakeholders need to understand what the rules are so they can plan accordingly,” Murkowski said.

At a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the regulation of financial transmission rights and other electricity market mechanisms Murkowski emphasized that as Congress works on necessary Wall Street reform legislation, care must be taken to avoid sweeping under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) umbrella the physical energy markets already regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

“We don’t want to be in a situation where well-intentioned legislation results in burdensome, duplicative, or conflicting regulatory requirements for critical power transactions,” Murkowski said.

Murkowski also pointed out that an important difference between FERC and CFTC is that FERC’s mission is to ensure that consumers receive reliable delivery of just and reasonably priced power, while the CFTC is charged with policing the markets for fraud, manipulation and waste.

“We must keep these very different goals in mind as we work on financial reforms,” Murkowski said.

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For further information, please contact Robert Dillon at 202.224.6977 or Robert_dillon@energy.senate.gov or Anne Johnson at 202.224.7875 or anne_johnson@energy.senate.gov.

Visit our website at http://energy.senate.gov/public/

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