FERC-716 (Good Faith Requests for Transmission Service and Good Faith Responses by Transmitting Utilities under Sections 211(a) and 213(a) of the Federal Power Act (FPA))

The general policy sets forth standards by which the Commission determines whether and when a valid good faith request for transmission has been made . In developing the standards, the Commission sought to encourage an open exchange of information with a reasonable degree of specificity and completeness between the party requesting transmission services and the transmitting utility. As a result, 12 components of a good faith request are identified under 18 CFR 2.20. Information in the data exchange is not filed with the Commission unless negotiations between the transmission requestor and the transmitting utility have not been successful and the transmission requestor files a Section 211 request with the Commission. The request and response may be analyzed by the Commission as part of the Section 211 proceeding. The data exchange between the transmission requestor and the transmitting utility may: • foster a transmission transaction between the parties without Commission action; or • assist the Commission in its review of the Section 211 request by ensuring a good faith request has been made pursuant to 16 USC 824l of the FPA. The requisite information in the good faith request is (1) in the form of a notice suitable for publishing in the Federal Register, including the applicant’s name, the date of the application, the names of the affected parties, and a brief description of the transmission services sought, and (2) a sworn statement that an actual notice has been served, including the information above and the proposed dates for initiating and terminating the requested transmission services, the total amount of transmission capacity requested, a brief description of the character and nature of the transmission services being requested, and whether the transmission services are firm or non-firm on each affected party. This statement must enumerate each person served. The Commission uses the information from good faith request applications to issue an order, if it is in the public interest, requiring a transmitting utility to provide transmission services (including any enlargement of transmission capacity necessary to provide such services) to the applicant. Without this information, the Commission would be unable to order a transmitting utility to provide transmission services and thus ensure equitable transmission services to all transmitting utilities. Without this information, the Commission would be unable to carry out the provisions of the Act.

The latest form for FERC-716 (Good Faith Requests for Transmission Service and Good Faith Responses by Transmitting Utilities under Sections 211(a) and 213(a) of the Federal Power Act (FPA)) expires 2021-07-31 and can be found here.