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FERC Extends Financial Houses’ Leave to Acquire Utility Securities

The role of financial institutions in energy markets is steadily increasing. In furtherance of this trend, FERC recently granted blanket authorizations to three financial and investment companies allowing them to acquire securities of electric utility companies in the course of their business, without needing advance FERC approval under the Federal Power Act (FPA) for each transaction.

As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Congress amended the FPA to require prior FERC approval for holding companies to acquire securities with a value of over $10 million of utilities or holding companies owning utilities. Financial institutions have since sought and received from FERC waivers to allow them or their affiliates to acquire these securities in amounts exceeding $10 million without advance FERC approval, provided the acquisition is in their ordinary course of their business, which includes taking security for a loan, in connection with their asset management business, or as part of their routine activities as a broker, dealer, and trader.

In 2006, FERC granted these blanket approvals for only one-year terms. But having grown more comfortable with these arrangements, FERC now granted blanket approvals for a three-year term. The authorization granted two of the companies, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Morgan Stanley, were renewals for these longer terms, while the third, Legg Mason, Inc., received an initial three-year authorization. The conditions FERC imposed on each company include not exercising control over public utilities whose securities they acquire and compliance with reporting requirements.