Power marketeer Citizens Power Sales is seeking approval from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to export surplus electricity to Mexico, Dow Jones reports. The request represents the latest is a series of requests from power marketeers in the USA to export electricity to both Mexico and Canada, according to a senior electricity analyst at the DOE.
As yet, little electricity has been exported, but trade is expected to grow. A similar state of affairs developed when the natural gas industry was opened to competition.
Citizens Power, which is a subsidiary of the UK’s Energy Group, wants to send electricity across transmission facilities owned by Central Power and Light Co., El Paso Electric Co. and San Diego Gas and Electric Co. However the three power companies named in the papers said they had not yet received requests from Citizens Power.
Any power wheeled over these transmission networks would be delivered to the network operated by Comission Federal De Electricidad, the Mexican state-owned utility. Citizen’s Power, which admitted it did not yet have specific Mexican customers, would purchase power from utilities and suppliers within the USA.
Separately, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has ruled that the DOE has authority to order open access transmission service over international, cross-border transmission facilities. The case which involves El Paso Electric, has been under consideration for more than a year. During this time the utility has been operating under open access rules. It will now amend its transmission tariff.