In a major move to improve the reliability and efficiency of the US Northwest’s power grid, nine electric utilities are considering a plan to bring nearly 30,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines under an independent regional transmission organization (RTO). In accordance with a requirement of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the utilities submitted a compliance filing on the plan in mid-October, 2000.
A spokesperson said, “By putting all transmission under one operator, we hope to make needed physical improvements on a timely basis. That will improve reliability and, in the long term, hold down costs for regional consumers.”
Purchasers of power must now pay a fee to each utility that owns high-voltage lines used for delivery of electricity. The RTO will charge customers access under a single tariff, thus eliminating “rate pancaking,” which means paying more than one utility to get power across their facilities.
The participating utilities in the “RTO West” are Avista Corp., Bonneville Power Administration, Idaho Power Co., the Montana Power Co., Nevada Power Co., PacifiCorp, Portland General Electric Co., Puget Sound Energy Inc., and Sierra Pacific Power Co.
Based on a report from ElectricNet
