RTO West Formation Process

1
RTO West Formation Process

• Vancouver, B.C.
• December 4, 2002

2
RTO West Formation

• RTO West followed FERC Order 2000 directive
  regarding collaborative process.
• We expect parties in each region will work
  together to identify the appropriate RTO
  regionsand develop a timely application in
  accordance with the Final Rule.
• We encourage Canadian and Mexican entities to
  participate in continued RTO consultations and,
  if appropriate, formation and filings for
  cross-border RTOs.
• RTO West has benefited from active and strong
  Canadian participation in RTO West processes from
  the outset.

3
RTO West Formation

• RTO West formed in Fall of 1999 by Northwest
  transmission owners Includes Avista, BPA, Puget
  Sound Energy, Portland General Electric, Nevada
  Power, Sierra Pacific Power Company, Idaho Power
  Company, Pacificorp, Northwestern Energy, and
  British Columbia Power Authority. Known as the
  filing utilities
• Filing utilities determined that extensive public
  involvement was a key principle in developing the
  RTO West filings. Particularly true in the
  Pacific Northwest and Canada.
• Created an extensive public process to encourage
  feedback and advice on all major issues in the
  filing documents.

4
Regional Representatives Group

• RTO West formed the Regional Representatives
  Group (RRG).
• RRG consists of public power participants (public
  generators, rural co-ops, transmission dependent
  utilities/BPA customers), marketers, the
  environmental community, Tribes, states, Canadian
  representatives, and the filing utilities.
  Representatives are self-selected.
• RRG is the principal region-wide mechanism for
  getting feedback on RTO West proposals. While
  self-selected representatives sit at the table,
  RRG meetings are open to everyone.
• Need in the future for the RRG to be more
  collaborative than it has been in the recent past
  where focus has been on getting filings submitted
  to FERC in a timely manner.

5
Technical Work Groups

• RTO West formed technical work groups open to all
  interested parties to participate in developing
  the filing documents. Used extensively for the
  Stage 1 filing.
• The Market Design and Tariff Work Groups have
  been meeting to follow through on the directions
  from FERC in its Stage 2 Order to RTO West.
• The extensive technical work is now going through
  some review and evaluation and resolution of some
  of the outstanding crucial open questions.

6
Stakeholder Collaborative Process

• Stakeholder groups formed by self-selection to
  participate in developing work products of the
  designated work groups.
• Each work group has stated objective. Filing
  utilities develop straw proposals for work groups
  to consider. Stakeholders and filing utilities
  discuss issues and seek consensus on approaches
  and solutions.
• If consensus is not reached within work groups,
  filing utilities determine whether to (1) prepare
  a straw proposal, (2) refer particular issues to
  RRG (for review and input) and then to filing
  utilities, or (3) take other action to move
  forward.
• Filing utilities responsible for final drafting
  of documents. Send out drafts for final
  stakeholder review and comment before filing.

7
Seams Resolution Processes

• The three western RTO development efforts (RTO
  West, California Independent System Operator, and
  WestConnect) have formed the Seams Steering Group
  Western Interconnection (SSG-WI). The
  activities of the SSG-WI and its work groups are
  set out on its website www.ssg-wi.com. Three
  representatives and an alternate from each RTO
  effort serve on SSG-WI.
• Five work groups are open to all interested
  parties. They include congestion management,
  price reciprocity, planning, market monitoring,
  and common systems interface coordination. Their
  schedules and work plans are on website.
  Currently developing an issues list for
  submission to FERC in early January.
• FERC is placing reliance on SSG-WI to develop
  approaches for enhancing an open western market.

8
Collaboration Opportunities

• RTO West information can be found at the RTO West
  website www.rtowest.com. This includes a vast
  amount of information about RTO West from the
  outset to the present.
• You can sign up for the RRG list server and
  receive all e-mails that are sent to the RRG. To
  subscribe to the exploder send an e-mail to
  Listserv_at_list.rtowest.com. In the body of the
  e-mail type subscribe RRGA-L John Doe (Dont
  put the quotes in when you type it in.) Do not
  put any other words in the body, i.e., no
  signature blocks, confidentiality blocks, etc.
• For direct contacts with RTO West, you can call
  Chris Elliott or Judy Welch at [phone] or
  Sarah Dennison-Leonard at [phone] or Bud
  Krogh at [phone]. The names of all
  representatives on the RRG are on the RTO West
  website.