Ninth Circuit Sides with FERC and Consumers, Rejects Unwarranted Utility Incentive Costing Ratepayers Millions
Spiegel & McDiarmid attorneys won a major victory for California ratepayers in a July 11, 2025, Ninth Circuit decision affirming FERC’s denial of an unneeded and costly transmission rate incentive “adder” sought by Pacific Gas & Electric Company. The court found that FERC correctly denied PG&E’s request to include an incentive adder in its transmission rates because PG&E needs...Chambers and Super Lawyers Again Recognize Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP
Bayne, Bogorad, Drennen, Pomper, Schwarz, Strauss Highlighted
Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP thanks our clients for their continued support and confidence as reflected in the recognition the firm has recently received from Chambers USA. For the twelfth consecutive year, Chambers & Partners has recognized Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP as one of the nation’s leading law firms in the area of “Energy: Electricity...D.C. Circuit Sides with New York Consumers, Rejects Transmission Owner Funding Bid
Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP attorneys achieved a significant victory for New York consumers in a May 27, 2025, decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court reviewed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) rejection of a request by New York transmission owners for approval of a tariff change that would afford them the option to finance the...Spiegel & McDiarmid Stands Up for the Rule of Law
The firm has joined four amicus briefs in support of lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the firms of Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey. Each of these firms has been the target of an Executive Order issued by the Administration. Spiegel is proud to stand with hundreds of its...Kentucky Municipals Defend FERC Orders Rejecting Rate Re-Pancaking
On January 21, 2025, firm partner Jeff Bayne, on behalf of the Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency and other transmission-dependent municipal utilities (collectively, Kentucky Municipals), argued in the D.C. Circuit (recording) against the re-pancaking of Kentucky Municipals’ transmission rates across the seam between the transmission grids of Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and Louisville Gas and Electric Company and...Sixth Circuit Sides with Consumers, TDUs in Denial of Adder to Ohio Utilities
Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP attorneys achieved a significant victory for consumers and transmission-dependent utilities in a recent decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The decision found four Ohio transmission owners ineligible to include a 50-basis point increase or “Adder” to the return on equity component of their transmission rates because of their participation in a regional transmission...Client Alert: Supreme Court Overturns Chevron Deference in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo
On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The decision overturns decades-old precedent and alters a foundational principle of the law governing federal court review of decisions by federal administrative agencies, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Federal...
New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel Argues Against Greenlighting of Transco Pipe Line Project
On March 15, 2024, firm partner Jeffrey Schwarz, on behalf of the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel, argued in the D.C. Circuit (recording) to vacate a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order greenlighting Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company’s (Transco’s) Regional Access Expansion Project (REAE). The project will enable Transco to transport up to...Jeff Bayne and Amber Martin Stone Become Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP Partners
Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP is pleased to announce that Jeffrey M. Bayne and Amber L. Martin Stone have become Partners in the firm. Jeff has been with Spiegel & McDiarmid since 2015. Amber first joined the firm the same year. |
Jeff Bayne’s practice focuses on addressing changes in...
D.C. Office of People’s Counsel Wins Remand in Pepco Rate CaseOn November 10, 2022, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals — the District’s highest court — granted in full the petition for review filed by the D.C. Office of People’s Counsel (“OPC”), reversing and remanding D.C. Public Service Commission (“PSC”) rulings with respect to two aspects of its approval of Potomac Electric Power Company’s (“Pepco”) proposed multi-year rate...D.C. Circuit Sides with State Petitioners Challenging Reliability-Must-Run Agreement Rates for Mystic Units 8 & 9 and Everett LNG TerminalSpiegel & McDiarmid LLP attorneys achieved a significant victory that should reduce the bills paid by New England wholesale electric ratepayers to retain two gas-fired generators and their affiliated fuel supplier. In 2018, the owner of Mystic Units 8 & 9 moved to retire the generators, but the system operator, ISO New England (“ISO-NE”) found that the units were...U.S. Court of Federal Claims Rules for Northern California Power Agency and California CitiesSpiegel & McDiarmid LLP attorneys achieved another milestone in a lawsuit brought by the Northern California Power Agency (“NCPA”) and the cities of Redding, Roseville and Santa Clara, California, to recover overcharges imposed on them by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (“CVPIA”). NCPA and the cities buy hydroelectric power generated by the Bureau’s...D.C. Circuit Vacates FERC’s Methodology for Calculating Returns on EquityThe D.C. Circuit vacated and remanded Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) Opinions No. 569 and 569-A, which had established a new way to set the allowed profit (return on equity, or “ROE”) for electric transmission investment in the extensive Midcontinent Independent System Operator (“MISO”) area. Spiegel partner David Pomper argued the ROE methodology issues on behalf of our clients (Mississippi...D.C. Circuit Vacates FERC’s Orders that had Increased Transmission Costs to Kentucky MunicipalsOn August 5, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) orders “re-pancaking” electric transmission rates across the seam between the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) transmission grid and that of Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company (together, LG&E/KU). Ky. Mun. Energy Agency v. FERC, Nos. 19-1236 et...Chambers and Super Lawyers Again Recognize Spiegel & McDiarmid LLPBayne, Bogorad, Nurani, Pomper, Schwarz, Strauss HighlightedSpiegel & McDiarmid LLP thanks our clients for their continued support and confidence as reflected in the recognition the firm has recently received from Chambers USA. For the ninth consecutive year, Chambers & Partners has recognized Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP as one of the nation’s leading law firms in the area of “Energy: Electricity...Appeals Court Rules in Cases on Distribution System Access and Fairness of ServiceOn January 25, 2022, finding that FERC’s decisions “present a troubling pattern of inattentiveness to potential anti-competitive effects of PG&E’s administration of its open-access Tariff,” the D.C. Circuit issued a combined opinion granting San Francisco’s petitions for review of two separate Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) orders. The two cases involved longstanding disputes with Pacific Gas and Electric Company...First Circuit Upholds Maine Law Ensuring Nondiscriminatory Treatment of Public, Educational, and Governmental Access ChannelsOn August 3, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed a district court decision that upheld a 2019 Maine law requiring nondiscriminatory treatment of public, educational, and governmental (“PEG”) access channels. The First Circuit’s decision is a major victory for PEG access centers, which have long been subject to inequitable treatment from cable operators. A...Sixth Circuit Delivers Mixed Results in Appeal of FCC’s Franchise Fee OrderOn May 26, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an opinion granting in part and denying in part the consolidated petitions for review of the Federal Communications Commission’s Franchise Fee Order. City of Eugene, Or. v. FCC, No. 19-4161 (6th Cir. May 26, 2021). The Franchise Fee Order ruled that most nonmonetary, cable-related obligations...Chambers and Super Lawyers Again Recognize Spiegel & McDiarmid LLPBogorad, Pomper, Strauss HighlightedSpiegel & McDiarmid LLP thanks our clients for their continued support and confidence as reflected in the recognition the firm has recently received from Chambers USA. For the eighth consecutive year, Chambers & Partners has recognized Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP as one of the nation’s leading law firms in the area of “Energy: Electricity (Regulatory & Litigation)...D.C. Circuit Upholds FERC Reduction of Transco AdderOn February 19, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an opinion affirming Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) orders reducing the return on equity (“ROE”) adders paid to three stand-alone transmission companies (“transcos”) operating in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) footprint. Int’l Transmission Co. v. FERC, No. 19-1190 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 19,...
2025 Chambers & Partners USA and Global recognized Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP as a leading law firm in the area of “Energy: Electricity (Regulatory & Litigation).”
2025 Super Lawyers
and Rising Stars recognized Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP attorneys.
2023 Top Ranked
Law Firms by Martindale-Hubbell®.
American Bar Association
names Spiegel as among
2015 Top 10 Regional Law
Firms in Energy, Environmental
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