Statement of Support on Proposed Relief for electricity and energy related transactions between government, tribal and cooperatively owned electric utilities

Chairman Gary Gensler

August 17, 2012

I support the proposed relief from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) swaps provisions for certain electricity and electricity-related energy transactions between rural electric cooperatives and federal, state, municipal, and tribal power authorities.  The relief responds to a petition filed by a group of these cooperatives and authorities.

Congress directed the CFTC, when it is in the public interest, to provide relief from the Dodd-Frank Act’s swaps market reform provisions for certain transactions between these entities.

For decades, these entities have been generally recognized as performing a public service mission to provide their customers or cooperative members with reliable electric energy at the lowest cost possible. They have been largely exempt from regulation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission because of their government entity status or their not-for-profit cooperative status.

The scope of the proposed relief extends only to electricity and electricity-related energy transactions that are for the generation, transmission and delivery of electric energy to customers. Such transactions must be intended for making or taking physical delivery of the underlying commodity.

I look forward to receiving public comment on the proposed relief.

Last Updated: August 17, 2012