Utilities should put customer benefits first when deciding on which Western day-ahead electricity market to join, New Mexico Commissioner Gabriel Aguilera said.

NERC’s 2025 budget is set to rise 8.2% over the previous year to $123 million.

The Western Resource Adequacy Program’s key stakeholder body approved a plan that would postpone the start of its penalty phase by one year, to summer 2027.

Utility staff charged with managing real-time operations will be equipped to deal with the seams between two Western day-ahead markets, but the situation will be far from ideal, Western state energy officials heard at the CREPC-WIRAB spring conference.

Western Resource Adequacy Program participants still strongly support the program despite recently appealing to delay its “binding” penalty phase by one year due to concerns about capacity shortages, WPP's Sarah Edmonds said.

Many at the joint conference focused on the eventual result of the contest between CAISO's Extended Day-Ahead Market and SPP's Markets+ to organize the West's electricity market.

WECC’s two-day annual member meeting featured an election to fill the board’s two top spots.

EROs are increasing their budgets for 2024, with the increases largely funding personnel and meetings. Draft budgets are available for stakeholder comment.

A relatively new state agency works to transform utility wildfire safety culture by shifting away from penalties and enforcement to a learning-based approach.