FERC plans 2025 budget amid staffing concerns, federal workforce cuts

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has developed a budget strategy for fiscal 2025 that holds funding at the previous year's appropriated levels to prioritize employee levels necessary to meet the agency's statutory obligations, Chairman Mark Christie said in a letter to the White House.

The Feb. 27 letter was in response to an email sent from the White House Office of Personnel Management asking all federal employees to explain in five bullet points what they accomplished in the week of Feb. 16. Christie responded to OPM on behalf of all FERC employees, explaining that FERC had defended orders in court, scheduled a resource adequacy technical conference and issued notices to proceed on nine gas projects, in addition to the 2025 budget planning.

"The commission developed a funding strategy for fiscal year 2025 that holds funding at the previous year's appropriated levels to prepare for potential passage of a yearlong continuing resolution," Christie said. "This strategy prioritizes employee levels needed to support the commission's statutory obligations while implementing reductions resulting from constraints a FY 2024 appropriation level would impose on current operational requirements."

The OPM email was part of a push by the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency to reduce the federal workforce and cut spending.

However, Christie said in his letter that the agency's 2024 budget — and staffing levels — were necessary for the commission to meet its statutory obligations. FERC's budget in FY 2024 was $520 million and the agency employed approximately 1,560 full-time staff.

Christie, a Republican who was tapped to lead the five-member commission shortly after Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, has voiced concern about losing critical staff needed to carry out FERC's mission.

Some industry stakeholders have also raised concern about potential cuts to permitting staff that they said could lead to project delays and more legally vulnerable commission orders.

So far, FERC has avoided the large-scale cuts seen at other energy regulators. Unlike the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, FERC had laid off no probationary employees as of Feb. 20, despite thousands of DOGE-led firings across the rest of the federal government.

Fifty FERC employees — or about 3% of the commission's staff — accepted OPM's deferred resignation offer, which allowed an employee to get paid through September if they agreed to resign, according to a FERC spokesperson.

However, questions remain as to whether FERC will continue to avoid staff cuts following recent guidance from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directing agencies to submit plans for "large-scale reductions-in-force" by March 13.

Notably, the OMB memo calls for agencies to prioritize employees that perform "non-statutorily mandated functions" for a reduction-in-force.

A Feb. 18 executive order seeking to bring independent agencies like FERC under White House control could give the OMB more say in the commission's budget and staffing levels. The executive order allows for the OMB director to "adjust so-called independent agencies' apportionments to ensure tax dollars are spent wisely."

FERC is self-funded through user fees, but the commission still must submit its budget to Congress for approval. The commission has received some funding under the Inflation Reduction Act for environmental reviews associated with permitting.

A FERC spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.