Electricity – ISO Rules
Application
The Alberta Electric System Operator (“AESO”) applied for approval of amendments to s 306.4, Transmission Planned Outage Reporting and Coordination of the Independent System Operator (“ISO”) Rules.
Decision
The AUC approved the amendments as submitted by the AESO, effective April 1, 2024.
Pertinent Issues
When deciding whether to approve amendments proposed by the AESO, the AUC must consider whether the AESO adequately consulted on the proposed amendments, and whether the amendments meet the following factors set out in the Electric Utilities Act: the ISO rule is not technically deficient; the ISO rule supports the fair, efficient and openly competitive operation of the market; and ISO rule is in the public interest.
The AESO stated that, beginning in June 2023, and in several rounds, the AESO issued a letter of notice to stakeholders and received comments from stakeholders.
The AESO submitted that the proposed amendments to Section 306.4 are not technically deficient because they remove the requirement to resubmit planned outages, which is obsolete due to the new Control Room Operations Window web interface and the Application Programming Interface.
The AESO explained that the proposed amendments to Section 306.4 support the fair, efficient and openly competitive operation of the Alberta electricity market by improving clarity, which will lead to greater compliance from all market participants, who will, therefore, be able to provide more accurate information to the AESO.
The AESO submitted that the proposed amendments to Section 306.4 are in the public interest because requiring that market participants submit changes as well as cancellations in a scheduled outage request, will improve the clarity of the required information under subsection 4(2).
The AUC was satisfied that the proposed amendments to Section 306.4 are not technically deficient, support the fair, efficient and openly competitive operation of the market to which they relate, and are in the public interest.
