FERC Standards of Conduct (Order 717) require transmission providers to provide non-discriminatory, and not unduly preferential access to transmission service or transmission system information to all of its transmission customers, and without preference to its own affiliated Marketing Function Employees (MFEs).

To ensure open and fair transmission markets so that customers have equal access to transmission, the SOC includes three basic principles:

1. The Independent Functioning Rule requires Transmission Function Employees and Marketing Function Employees to operate independently of each other.
2. The No Conduit Rule prohibits the passing of SOC restricted transmission information to Marketing Function Employees.  
3. The Transparency Rule imposes posting requirements to help detect any instances of undue preference.