Utility industry casts doubt on FERC’s proposed cyber standards

Sep 25

Dive Brief:

The utility industry is pushing back on some proposals made by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to address cybersecurity weaknesses. A coalition of industry groups doubt FERC’s authority to make some changes, questioning whether others are necessary, Fierce Energy reports.
FERC has been trying to address cybersecurity across the utility supply chain, but a broad group of power providers say regulators lack authority to oversee third-party providers on the grid.
Moreover, the coalition told FERC that its revised critical infrastructure protection standards already address many security issues, and that regulators may be overstating the risk involved.

Dive Insight:

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But in comments filed this week by a broad range of utility groups, the industry cast doubt on FERC’s authority to regulate some areas and said the issue overall may be blown out of proportion.

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