The FERC and ISO paper that actually binds

Watt Brief reads FERC eLibrary and ISO/RTO public records the same way it reads a county packet: identity first, then the one clock that binds. A stakeholder slide, a planning white paper, or a trade-press recap of “what FERC might do” is not a row. A tariff sheet, a Section 205 filing, a Section 206 complaint, or a show-cause order that names large load or data-center interconnection is.

205 is a filing. 206 is a fight.

Under the Federal Power Act, a public utility’s Section 205 filing is how it proposes to change a rate, tariff, or practice it already has on file. The utility (or the ISO/RTO as the tariff administrator) posts the package. Intervenors protest or comment. FERC accepts, suspends, sets for hearing, or rejects. The document ID is the accession number eLibrary printed — not a caption we invent.

Section 206 is the other door. A complainant, or FERC on its own motion, alleges that an existing rate or practice is unjust or unreasonable. A show-cause order is the Commission telling a utility or an ISO to explain why a practice should not be found unlawful. That is a clock. It is not a rumor that “FERC is looking at data centers.” If the order or the answer does not name large load, interconnection, or data centers, it is not our row.

The live tariff beats the white paper

ISO and RTO open-access transmission tariffs, and the business-practice manuals they incorporate, are the rules that bind a queue. A white paper, a load-forecast blog, or a conference deck can be useful context. It does not change who studies whom, or when a deposit is due. When we send a queue or FERC row, the source URL should open the tariff sheet, the eLibrary package, or the ISO posting — not a recap of a workshop.

• ERCOT LLI, PJM large-load / IRAS, and SPP HILL are ISO/RTO lists. Their IDs are the IDs those lists printed.
• FERC eLibrary matters when a docket — including the EL26-67–72 family we watch, or a peer large-load docket — actually names data-center or large-load interconnection.
• A restated MW in a press kit is not a tariff change. A 205 that revises a large-load study process is.

Comment clocks sit on the same row

A 205 or 206 package usually carries one binding comment or protest window, then answers, then an order. Related clocks stay on that identity. We do not mint a second headline because someone filed a late intervention, and we do not invent accession numbers in an explainer. If the same docket later changes class — an order, a settlement, a withdrawal — that is a new delta on the same source + document ID + event class, not a duplicate with a louder title.

Open eLibrary. Match the accession number. Read whether the filing is 205 (the utility’s proposed change) or 206 / show-cause (a challenge to what is already on file). Then read the ISO tariff page the filing cites. If the MW, the load class, or the county is not on that paper, the row is not for you yet.

We do not attach a $/kW. A FERC order does not produce a lease comp. It produces a tariff path, a suspension, or a hearing. Confirm the package on eLibrary or the ISO site before you change a site-visit plan. Process names and adapters are on Sources.