By Robert Mullin CAISO expects to hold its 2017 revenue requirement to this year’s level despite a planned $4.3 million increase in spending driven by rising labor costs, the ISO’s chief financial officer said Thursday. CAISO's revenue requirement — which tracks closely with the ISO's operations and maintenance expenses —...

By Amanda Durish Cook MISO and PJM have nearly completed their work on joint operating agreement and tariff language to create the new targeted market efficiency project (TMEP) type, and the RTOs have singled out seven congestion-relieving candidate projects. Four of the possible TMEPs are located at flowgates in Indiana,...

The Members Committee approved by acclamation a rate-increase proposal that struck a balance between allowing for cost increases and providing long-term certainty. Members endorsed the Finance Committee’s unanimous recommendation for a composite rate of $0.36/MWh for two years and then a 2.5% annual increase that will result in a rate...

SAN DIEGO — Transmission industry owners, operators, generators, regulators, financiers and other key players from the Western U.S. attended Infocast’s 8th annual Transmission Summit West last week. They discussed the strategic, regulatory, investment and technology issues facing the industry. Western Regionalization Crowley © RTO Insider CAISO’s Stacy Crowley, vice president...

By Tom Kleckner In an industry where grid operators often engage in bickering and litigation over their borders, ERCOT and SPP have proven neighbors can also collaborate for the common good. The grid operators’ in-house developers have worked together to produce version 2.0 of the Macomber Map, a visualization tool...

By Amanda Durish Cook MISO transmission owners will be taking a pay cut, as FERC ordered their 12.38% return on equity reduced by more than 2 percentage points. The Wednesday order (EL14-12-002) affirms an administrative law judge’s initial decision in December. The TOs will now receive a 10.32% ROE. With incentives,...

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — ISO-NE planners last week outlined the scope of a needs analysis that will determine whether the RTO will approve transmission upgrades to accommodate wind development in the Keene Road area in Maine. An economic study found that the area could qualify for market efficiency transmission upgrades (METUs)...

By Amanda Durish Cook A proposal by MISO and ITC Holdings to allocate the costs of phase angle regulating transformers (PARs) to entities outside of MISO is not just and reasonable, FERC ruled last week. The commission’s Sept. 22 order upheld Administrative Law Judge Steven Sterner’s 2012 decision prohibiting MISO...

CARMEL, Ind. — MISO posted the second draft of the 2016 Transmission Expansion Plan report last week,  complete except for the executive summary and Appendix A2’s cost allocation explanation. Hellalat © RTO Insider MISO’s Omar Hellalat told the Planning Advisory Committee last week that stakeholder feedback forms, which will be...

By Amanda Durish Cook CARMEL, Ind. — Stakeholders support MISO’s push to revise its cost allocation process for market efficiency projects (MEPs), but their suggested approaches are a mixed bag. By the end of this year, MISO will release a conceptual proposal that may expand its market efficiency voltage threshold...