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Denise C. Goulet
Alternate image for Denise C. Goulet

Denise C. Goulet

Partner

202.753.3439
Washington, DC
dgoulet@mccarter.com

Clients in the electric and natural gas sectors turn to Denise Goulet for her more than 35 years of experience in federal and state energy policy, including complex litigation over electric energy and capacity market rules.

Denise Goulet represents municipal and rural electric cooperative utilities, generators, state regulators, and state consumer advocate offices in federal and state energy matters, including administrative, regulatory, and appellate litigation. She counsels clients on matters involving the organized wholesale electric markets, including capacity market issues in the PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. region, and complex market rules related to reliability, competition, pricing, and market manipulation. She has been involved in most of the proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) involving the design of PJM’s capacity market, including cases involving capacity performance, fuel security, minimum offer price rule, demand curves, cost of new entry, pricing of reliability-must-run resources, and the role of demand response in capacity markets.

Denise has extensive experience advising on, and defending clients’ interests in, litigation concerning transmission tariffs, transmission and production formula rate implementation and cost recovery schedules, transmission rate incentive requests, transmission planning and cost allocation, and affiliate transaction/cross-subsidy issues. She has negotiated favorable settlements in Return on Equity complaint proceedings and handled issues related to generation and Qualifying Facility interconnections.

Denise has drafted and submitted comments in most major FERC electric policy and rulemaking proceedings over the past ten years for an ad-hoc coalition of transmission-dependent utilities and two national trade associations.

Denise litigates matters relating to state utility rates and state electric and natural gas policy, and has advised clients on issues related to the interaction of state and federal policies and rulings. She has litigated or settled numerous electric and gas cases before FERC and state public utility commissions, and has participated in appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and Third and Fourth Circuits.

In serving her clients, Denise draws from her experience serving in state regulator and public advocate roles. She served for two years as Law Clerk to the Chair of the Public Service Commission of West Virginia, and for 24 years representing utility consumers, first in West Virginia as Deputy Consumer Advocate, and then in Pennsylvania as Senior Assistant Consumer Advocate. In the latter position, she coordinated all pleadings and rulemaking comments on major electric and natural gas pipeline proceedings before FERC and the appellate courts.

She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and has been recognized as a Groundbreaking Lawyer by Public Utilities Fortnightly.

Representative Matters

Rural electric cooperatives – PJM capacity market rules

Litigated the design of PJM’s capacity market rules governing PJM’s Reliability Pricing Model, including the Minimum Offer Price Rule, the role of state-sponsored resources in PJM’s markets, application of PJM’s market power mitigation rules, and related appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and Third Circuits; counseled clients on fuel security and grid resilience issues related to PJM’s capacity markets.

Rural electric cooperatives—Return on Equity complaint settlements

Challenged the Return on Equity authorized for two separate electric utilities and negotiated favorable settlements on behalf of our electric cooperative client in several complaint proceedings, saving our client more than $7 million.

Trade association—Price Formation and Transmission Open Access rules 

Wrote comments on Price Formation rules in FERC Docket No. AD14-14-000 for two national trade associations, focusing on market power mitigation concerns, and the pricing of resource flexibility, fast-ramping capability and fast-start capability; co-wrote comments on non-discriminatory, open access transmission services and on transmission planning and cost allocation policies in several seminal FERC rulemaking proceedings on behalf of rural electric cooperative clients.

Rural electric cooperative—Transmission rate incentives filing challenge, appeal

Litigated multiple cases involving challenges by our rural electric cooperative and state regulatory commission clients to two separate utility transmission rate incentives filings, including intervening in the appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in one of those matters.

Rural electric cooperatives—Transmission formula rate challenges

Reviews annually and litigates for rural electric cooperative clients transmission formula rate updates submitted by three separate electric utilities, and handles all matters related to the discovery, preliminary challenge, and formal challenge/formal complaint stages.

Rural electric cooperative—Favorable FERC order

Obtained a favorable order from FERC rejecting an investor-owned utility’s attempt to directly assign our client more than $4.6 million in transmission upgrade costs, and obtained important precedent affirming FERC’s open access transmission policies.

Rural electric cooperatives—Underground transmission cost assignment

Litigated cost allocation issues related to an investment in underground transmission facilities, saving the cooperative more than $5 million over time; representing client in the appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

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Services

Energy & Utilities
Environment & Energy
Environment & Energy Litigation
Environment & Energy Strategic Counseling
Environment & Energy Transactions

Education

University of New Hampshire School of Law JD, 1980
Syracuse University BA, 1976

Bar Admissions

District of Columbia
Pennsylvania

Court Admissions

U.S. Court of AppealsThird, Eleventh, and DC Circuits

Memberships & Certifications

Energy Bar Association
Officer of the Disputes and Resolution Steering Committee

Electric Cooperative Bar Association

Media item displaying McCarter Lawyers Named to 2020 Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll
News|Recognition
McCarter Lawyers Named to 2020 Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll
2020 Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll
4.1.2021
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DOE Requests FERC Fast-Track a Rule That Will Benefit Coal and Nuclear Plants
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10.10.2017
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4.18.2017
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