In a unanimous opinion issued on August 22nd, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit) vacated an order issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) upholding the assessment of a monetary penalty against the Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA), a federal Power Marketing Administration (PMA) under the jurisdiction of the Department of Energy (DOE).  In reviewing Section 215 which instituted the current electric reliability paradigm, the D.C. Circuit found that in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 Congress had not unequivocally waived the Federal Government’s sovereign immunity to allow for the assessment of monetary penalties.