Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 337

176 

NRG  POWER  MARKETING,  LLC  v.  MAINE  PUB. 
UTIL.  COMM’N 
Opinion of the Court 

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larly  those .
 critical  to  maintaining  reliability.”  115 
FERC,  at  62,335.  A  presumption  applicable  to  contracting 
parties  only,  and  inoperative  as  to  everyone  else—consum­
ers,  advocacy  groups,  state  utility  commissions,  elected  ofﬁ­
cials  acting  parens  patriae—could  scarcely  provide  the  sta­
bility Mobile-Sierra aimed to secure.5 

We  therefore  hold  that  the  Mobile-Sierra  presumption 
does not depend on the identity of the complainant who seeks 
FERC  investigation.  The  presumption  is  not  limited  to 
challenges  to  contract  rates  brought  by  contracting  parties. 
It applies, as well, to challenges initiated by third parties. 

III 

The objectors to the settlement appearing before us main­
tain  that  the  rates  at  issue  in  this  case—the  auction  rates 
and  the  transition  payments—are  prescriptions  of  general 
applicability  rather  than  “contractually  negotiated  rates,” 
hence Mobile-Sierra is inapplicable.  See Brief for Respond­
ents  15–17,  and  n.  1  (internal  quotation  marks  omitted). 
FERC agrees that the rates covered by the settlement “are 
not themselves contract rates to which the Commission was 
required  to  apply  Mobile-Sierra.”  Brief  for  FERC  15. 
But, FERC urges, “the Commission had discretion to do so,” 
id., at 28; furthermore, “[t]he court of appeals’ error in creat­
ing  a  third-party  exception  to  the  Mobile-Sierra  presump­
tion  is  a  sufﬁcient  basis  for  reversing  its  judgment,”  id., 
at  22.  Whether  the  rates  at  issue  qualify  as  “contract 
rates,”  and,  if  not,  whether  FERC  had  discretion  to  treat 
them  analogously  are  questions  raised  before,  but  not  ruled 
upon  by,  the  Court  of  Appeals.  They  remain  open  for  that 
court’s consideration on remand.  See Tr. of Oral Arg. 16. 

5 The  FPA  authorizes  “[a]ny  person,  electric  utility,  State,  munici­
pality,  or  State  commission”  to  complain.  16  U. S. C.  § 825e  (emphasis 
added).  FERC regulations similarly permit “[a]ny person [to] ﬁle a com­
plaint seeking Commission action.”  18 CFR § 385.206(a) (2009) (emphasis 
added).