Illinois Commerce Commission v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (ICC I)

576 F.3d 470 (2009)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
I
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Illinois Commerce Commission v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (ICC I)

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
576 F.3d 470 (2009)

  • Written by Robert Cane, JD

Facts

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) (defendant) approved a pricing scheme that allocated the costs of new transmission facilities with a capacity of 500 kilovolts (kV) or more to all utilities in the PJM Interconnection region on a pro rata basis based on total electricity sales. Previously, each utility contributed payment based on the benefits that it received from the new facility. For example, Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) (plaintiff) was asked to pay $480 million for Project Mountaineer, one of the transmission facilities, which would generate only about $1 million in benefits to ComEd. Under the old system, ComEd would have contributed nothing. FERC simply reasoned that the pro rata allocation was justified because some of PJM’s members had entered pro rata sharing agreements amongst themselves in the past (over 40 years ago) and that more 500 kV transmission lines would improve system reliability and benefit all the utilities. FERC’s decision was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Posner, J.)

Concurrence/Dissent (Cudahy, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 811,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Energy Law

Key Terms