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2015.House and Senate conferees were unable to resolve dif- spring of 2015,the Association drafted legislative language for ferences between the bills,though,and the measures died upon this immediate fix for the RTO capacity markets.Specifically, adjournment of the 114th Congress. APPA proposed that: 1) RTOs that have not yet implemented a One point of contention during the energy bill conference mandatory capacity market should not move to do so without was the issue of wholesale capacity markets. H.R. 8 proposed re- unanimous support by the states in the region;and 2)RTOs quiring RTOs with capacity markets to report on whether their that have already adopted a mandatory capacity market should markets ensure a sufficient supply of capacity meeting certain not impair(through rates,or rules,regulations,or practices reliability attributes. Generally,these criteria matched the per- affecting rates)the ability of a load-serving entity to meet its formance requirements established in PJM and,generally,would capacity obligations through a resource it owns,builds,controls, have excluded renewables,including hydropower.These reports or for which it has a contract for capacity. would have had to have been filed with FERC every time an RTO sought a change to market rules.While this language was better than language in an early draft of the bill that would have American Public Power Association required all RTOs capacity markets to meet PJM-like perfor- Contacts mance requirements,APPA had concerns that even a simple John Godfrey,Senior Government Relations Director, report,particularly when filed with every proposed change to 202-467-2929/jgodfrey@publicpower.org RTO capacity market rules,would have increased pressure on all RTOs to adopt these performance requirements.The Senate bill Elise Caplan,Senior Manager,Electric Market Analysis, would have required a one-time report from RTOs on electric 202-467-2974/ecaplan@publicpower.org capacity resources available;the current and projected state of reliability;and the extent to which RTO market rules meet a series of criteria related to:wholesale electric prices;diversity of generation;and availability of self-supply of electric capacity The American Public Power Association is the voice of resources by public power entities. not-for-profit,community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide.We represent pub- lic power before the federal government to protect the American Public Power Association Position interests of the more than 49 million people that public The Association has long advocated for fundamental reforms power utilities serve,and the 93,000 people they em- ploy. Our association advocates and advises on electricity that would transition from mandatory capacity markets to voluntary residual markets,with the primary procurement of policy,technology,trends,training,and operations.Our capacity conducted by states and local public power and coop- members strengthen their communities by providing superior service,engaging citizens,and instilling pride in erative utilities through bilateral contracts.In the near term, community-owned power. however,APPA has sought to fully restore public power rights to self-supply.In close cooperation with its members,in the 58 PubLicPower.org 240