ISO New England Inc. will hold its 13th forward capacity auction, covering the 2022-2023 delivery period. The price of capacity in the previous annual auction held last February cleared at a five-year low after the grid operator secured a surplus, with more than 34,800 megawatts of supplies. Under a controversial order approved by FERC in early December, two natural gas-fired units at Exelon Corp.’s money-losing Mystic power plant in Boston will be treated as price-takers in this auction. The New England grid operator found that the loss of the 1,700 megawatts of capacity and closure of the accompanying Distrigas liquefied natural gas terminal would lead to “unacceptable fuel security risks” as soon as 2022. The New England Power Generators Association estimated that out-of-market support for the generator could displace up to about 1,300 megawatts of otherwise economic resources and suppress prices by up to $642 million in the upcoming auction.

The Florida Public Service Commission will discuss and take final action on the tax impacts associated with the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 for Florida Power & Light Company. In December 2017, the company wrote off Hurricane Irma costs that had been charged to the storm reserve then amortized the reserve amount available at the time. The company also said that the tax law decreases its forecasted revenue requirement for 2018 by $772.3 million. FPL is a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. 20180046-EI

The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to receive wildfire mitigation plans mandated by the state legislature that describe utilities’ measures to prevent, combat, and respond to wildfires affecting their service territories. The bill also authorizes the state commission to approve utilities’ recovery of costs and expenses from the blazes that occurred in 2017 after applying a “stress test” to determine the maximum amount the utility can pay without harming ratepayers and maintaining safe service. For wildfire incidents from 2019 onwards, the commission would allow cost recovery if the expenses are found to be reasonable, based on a set of standards including the utility’s conduct. A federal judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is waiting to see the fire mitigation plan that PG&E files to make a decision on the criminal case for the 2010 San Bruno gas line explosion, which may require that the troubled utility inspect its entire grid for safety problems before the start of this year’s fire season. SB 901