|
[Home]
[Contact Us]
[About Az ISA]
[Az ISA Meetings]
[Az ISA History]
[Az ISA Current FERC Tariff]
[Alternative Dispute Resolution]
[Electric Service Provider Info]
[Az ISA Financial Info]
[Implementation Status]
[Links]
[Transmission Providers]
Documents are provided in PDF format and can be
viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click the icon to obtain a free copy of
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
| |
The following is an excerpt from the Az ISA Bylaws of October 2001 explaining
the
Alternative Dispute Resolution procedures.
6. Dispute
Resolution:
There shall be
two separate alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures—(i) a fast-track
arbitration procedure to resolve near-term issues and (ii) a more typical
mediation and/or arbitration procedure to resolve disputes that are more
complex.
6.1.
Fast-Track ADR:
The Director
or the Assistant Director shall make immediate decisions, based on the Protocols
Manual with respect to irregularities discovered during the performance of the
duties described in Section 5.3.10 and with respect to disputes between
transmission providers and transmission users concerning the next-day/same-day
schedule when such disputes involve a determination of TTC, ATC, committed uses,
priorities for use of congested paths, or other similar disputes. If the
decision of the Director or Assistant Director is disputed, the decision will be
referred to the fast-track ADR process by the Director or Assistant Director. A
panel of three (3) arbitrators shall be available at the call of the Director or
Assistant Director for a decision on the next business day--one panel member and
an alternate from the transmitting utility and one and an alternate from the
transmission user involved in the dispute, all of whom shall have been
designated at the time they become Members. The third member shall be selected
by the Director or Assistant Director on a rotating basis from an independent
standing panel of transmission experts, all of whom shall meet the
disqualification criteria contained in Section 5.1.1. The fast-track ADR
panel’s decision shall be submitted by the independent arbitrator, along with
a statement for his/her fee and costs to be paid by the losing Party, to the
Director by facsimile or electronic mail and the decision shall stand pending an
appeal, which must be taken, if at all, within thirty (30) days after the date
of the decision either to the courts or FERC, whichever is appropriate. A final
decision of the panel, the court, or FERC shall establish a precedent to guide
future decisions of the Director, Assistant Director, and future fast-track
panels; provided, however, that all appeals to FERC or the courts shall be de
novo.
6.2.
Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures:
For more
complicated disputes among transmission providers and transmission users
requiring additional time to prepare legal positions and proof of facts or use
of witnesses and documentary evidence, the Parties to the dispute may initiate
the peer review or mediation process provided in Section 6.2.1 or the Director
shall cause the arbitration procedures provided in Section 6.2.2 to be
initiated, unless both Parties choose to take the dispute directly to FERC or
the courts, whichever is appropriate.
6.2.1.
Peer Review or Mediation:
6.2.1.1.
All disputing Parties may jointly submit a written request for peer
review or mediation, including a written description of the matter under
dispute, to the AISA.
6.2.1.2.
Within two (2) working days of the receipt of the request, the
Director or Assistant Director shall appoint one (1) or more persons selected
from the list maintained by SWRTA to
act as facilitators to provide peer review or mediation.
6.2.1.3.
Generally, a mediation process will be followed for disputes
regarding non-fast-track ADR. The Director or Assistant Director shall appoint
one or more facilitators from SWRTA’s
list of qualified individuals who have received mediation training, or, if
mutually requested by the disputing Parties, any professional mediator, to
facilitate a resolution of the issue by the disputing Parties.
6.2.1.4.
The facilitator(s) appointed pursuant to Section 6.2.1.2 hereof shall
serve on an ad hoc basis to aid the disputing Parties in reaching a mutually
acceptable resolution of the dispute. The facilitator(s) shall have no authority
to impose a resolution upon the disputing Parties.
6.2.1.5.
Within ten (10) working days of the appointment by the AISA, the
facilitator(s) and disputing Parties shall meet and attempt to negotiate a
resolution of the dispute, following a timetable set out by the facilitator. The
cost of the peer review or mediation, including the facilitator’s reasonable
fees and expenses, shall be borne equally by the disputing Parties.
6.2.1.6.
Settlement positions taken by the disputing Parties during the course
of the negotiations under this Section 6.2.1 shall be maintained as confidential
to the extent permitted by law and shall not be introduced as evidence by an
opposing Party in any subsequent arbitration, FERC proceeding, or litigation
concerning the same or a related dispute.
6.2.1.7.
If all issues involved in the dispute are not resolved pursuant to
this Section 6.2.1 within thirty (30) calendar days, or other mutually agreed-to
period, after appointment of the facilitator, then any unresolved issues shall
be resolved as follows: (i) at the direction of the Director, the disputing
Parties will follow the arbitration process set forth in Section 6.2.2; or (ii)
the complaining Party shall file the dispute with FERC under the FPA for
resolution.
6.2.1.8.
The facilitator shall report the outcome of the peer review or
mediation process to the Director upon the successful conclusion of the
mediation process or at the end of the thirty-day period, whichever event shall
first occur.
6.2.1.9.
The facilitator shall bill and each Party shall pay one-half of the
facilitator’s fees and costs.
6.2.2.
Arbitration:
6.2.2.1
Within two (2) business days after the dispute has been referred to
arbitration by the Director pursuant to Section 6.2, each disputing Party shall
submit a statement in writing to the other disputing Party and the Director,
which statement shall set forth in adequate detail the nature of the dispute,
the issues to be arbitrated, and the remedy sought through such arbitration
proceedings.
6.2.2.2
The day following the submission of their statements, authorized
representatives of the disputing Parties shall meet in person or by telephone
for the purpose of selecting an Arbitrator.
6.2.2.3
Arbitration shall be conducted by a qualified Arbitrator
selected from the list maintained by SWRTA or from a mutually agreed list.
If the disputing Parties cannot agree upon an Arbitrator, each disputing Party
shall take turns striking names from a list of ten (10) qualified and available
individuals, with one of the disputing Parties, chosen by lot, first striking a
name. The last-remaining name not stricken shall be designated as the
Arbitrator. If that individual is unable, unwilling or ineligible to serve, the
individual last stricken from the list shall be designated and the process
repeated until an individual is selected who is eligible and willing to serve.
No person shall be eligible for appointment as an Arbitrator who meets the
disqualification criteria established in Section 5.1.1, and any individual
designated as a potential Arbitrator who is ineligible to serve pursuant to
those criteria shall disclose the circumstances affecting his or her
impartiality and shall disqualify himself or herself from serving as Arbitrator.
6.2.2.4
The Arbitrator shall establish a fourteen-day procedural schedule,
beginning two (2) business days after his/her appointment. This schedule shall
establish procedures for discovery and intervention, how evidence shall be
taken, what written submittals may be made, and other such procedural matters,
including setting the date, time and place of the hearing, taking into account
the complexity of the issues involved, the extent to which factual matters are
disputed and the extent to which the credibility of witnesses is relevant to a
resolution of the issues. Such procedures shall ensure, to the extent the
fourteen-day schedule permits, time for (i)
reasonable discovery of the facts, (ii) taking testimony under oath, (iii)
transcribing testimony, (iv) maintaining a docket that identifies each document
received, and (v) maintaining a file of the documents.
6.2.2.5
The Arbitrator shall accept relevant and material evidence and hear
testimony presented by the disputing Parties and may request additional
information and testimony. Such additional information shall be furnished by the
Party or Parties and may be requested from other entities having such
information. Other interested entities may move to intervene and request in
writing that the Arbitrator consider additional information, and the Arbitrator
shall decide, in view of the fourteen-day schedule for reaching his decisions,
whether to permit such intervention and whether to consider such additional
information.
6.2.2.6
Each disputing Party shall submit its proposed remedy to the
Arbitrator immediately after both Parties have rested at the hearing. Within and
as a part of the fourteen-day procedural schedule, the Arbitrator shall
determine which proposal best meets the terms and intent of AISA’s Bylaws, the
Protocols Manual, and conforms with the FPA and FERC’s published decisions,
policies, and regulations, and shall state his or her decision in writing. If
the Arbitrator finds both proposed remedies to be inadequate, the Arbitrator may
call for new proposals from the disputing Parties, if time permits. If time does
not permit second proposals, the arbitrator shall terminate the proceeding and
leave the Parties to their remedies at law. The Arbitrator’s decision shall
stand pending an appeal, which must be taken, if at all, within, thirty (30)
days after the date of the decision either to the courts or FERC, whichever is
appropriate. All appeals to FERC or the courts shall be de
novo.
6.2.2.7
Immediately upon their receipt of the written decision of the
Arbitrator, the disputing Parties shall take whatever action is required to
comply with the decision. To the extent the decision requires local, state, or
federal approval, regulatory action, or a FERC filing by a Party, the affected
Party(ies) shall submit and fully support that portion of the decision before
the appropriate regulatory authority, if such regulatory authority has
jurisdiction over that Party. Each disputing Party shall bear its own
attorneys’ fees and costs associated with the arbitration. The Arbitrator’s
fees and expenses and other costs of proof incurred at the request of the
Arbitrator shall be borne by the losing Party(ies). In the event of termination
of the proceeding by the Arbitrator pursuant to Section 6.2.2.6, the Parties
shall share the Arbitrator’s fees and expenses equally.
6.2.3.
Review:
6.2.3.1
Any arbitration decision issued pursuant to the AISA Tariff that
affects matters subject to the jurisdiction of FERC under the Federal Power Act
shall be filed with FERC.
6.2.3.2
On the basis of a protest by an affected state agency or on FERC’s
own motion, FERC may investigate any arbitration decision made under the AISA
Bylaws with respect to matters within its jurisdiction, and after giving
substantial deference to such decision, may set it aside if the decision is
determined to be inconsistent with the basis upon which the Bylaws were approved
by FERC or with applicable federal law or regulation.
6.3.
Disputes Involving Government Agencies:
If a party to a dispute is a Federal
agency, the procedures herein which provide for the resolution of claims and
arbitration of disputes are subject to any limitations imposed on the agency by
law, including but not limited to the authority of the agency to effect a
remedy. With respect to such Federal Agencies, the procedures in this Section 6
shall not apply to disputes involving issues arising under the United States
Constitution.
|
WWW.AZ-ISA.ORG
AZ-ISA Website Maintained by Az ISA
Contact Webmaster: webmaster@az-isa.org
Last Update:
June 10, 2013
|
Top
of Page
|
Arizona
Independent Scheduling Administrator Association