NERC Background

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is a self-regulatory organization, subject to oversight by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and governmental authorities in Canada. NERC was certified as the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) on July 20, 2006, by Federal Electric Regulatory Commission. As of June 18, 2007, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted NERC the legal authority to enforce reliability standards with all US users, owners, and operators of the bulk power system, and made compliance with those standards mandatory. Failure to meet the standards and implementation schedules set forth can result in significant financial penalties.