A shakeup in Wyoming’s landscape for electricity transmission may be around the corner.
The issues center on whether costs might rise or fall for the wholesale power market, as well as the benefits — if there are any — of turning over hundreds of miles of the electrical grid now managed by multiple owners to an independent grid operator to oversee.
The wholesale market, which refers to the buying and selling of electricity between power plants and resellers, could one day impact the utility bills paid by consumers and commercial and industrial customers.
These kinds of things are all being considered at a high level among Wyoming’s electricity purveyors.
The implications are huge.
This summer, the Wyoming Public Service Commission has quietly been evaluating the benefits, costs and effects of an expansion into the Cowboy State of a regional transmission organization (RTO) run out of Little Rock, Arkansas, that could alter how electricity is delivered over the electrical grid in the state.
It boils down to moving electrons over the grid reliably to ensure that the power heads to where it is needed.
Consider this: An operator sitting in a control room of the RTO grid operator in Arkansas could be responsible for sending reliable electricity to the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base on the western edge of Cheyenne, needed perhaps to keep land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles ready for launch just in case an adversary fires a nuclear salvo from somewhere in the world.
That RTO already has gained membership from utilities in the state, notably from billionaire Warren Buffett’s electric utility Rocky Mountain Power, and members of the Colorado-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, an electricity distribution cooperative that stretches across a four-state region, including parts of Wyoming.
Nuclear Base In
The Arkansas-based Southwest Power Pool (SPP) confirmed the base in Cheyenne has requested to become a member.
A spokeswoman with the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren was not immediately available to explain why it applied for membership.
The base showcases three wind turbines, though one isn’t functioning. The Air Force has no plans to build additional wind turbines, the spokeswoman told Cowboy State Daily earlier this year.
In June, the SPP filed plans with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to become the first regional transmission organization in the United States to provide services in both the Eastern and Western interconnections of the nation’s power grid.
Currently, the SPP covers 14 states, including Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
The power pool, which is expected to go live April 1, 2026, estimates that it could save $200 million annually by connecting with the U.S. West.
Bruce Rew, senior vice president of operations for SPP Inc., and who oversees the RTO expansion effort, told Cowboy State Daily that the expansion will primarily take place in Colorado and Wyoming, and represents a 10% increase in SPP’s market size.
Independent Grid Operator
Separate from the RTO, the Wyoming Public Service Commission wants to examine the possibility of Wyoming establishing an independent system operator (ISO) modeled like what California created more than a quarter century ago when that state deregulated wholesale electricity markets and altered how power is traded among utilities.
ISOs are nonprofit agents responsible for maintaining power balance in the transmission network and clearing market prices. They came about in the late 1990s when structural changes were being made to the industry to make it more competitive, and lower costs to individual ratepayers and commercial and industrial customers.
There were major hiccups in this process that caused several observers at the time to wonder if they had done the right thing.
There are nine ISOs in North America, including in California, two in Canada, and others scattered throughout the United States.
Wyoming is thinking about setting up its own ISO, but isn’t quite sure of the benefits yet, and whether having its own is even the right direction to go, said John Burbridge, secretary and chief counsel for the Wyoming Public Service Commission.
This is why the state regulator has asked for several consultants to provide information on the ISOs and RTOs.
“We’re still trying to figure it out as well, and we are still kicking around the idea,” said Burbridge of the ISO. “We don’t know if we’ll go out for an RFP (request for proposals). We’re not that far along.”
He said that utilities operating in the state are looking to join regional market systems, including the RTO in Arkansas, or the ISO already running in California, or form its own for the state of Wyoming.
“We want to make sure that it doesn’t adversely affect the reliability of power,” Burbridge said. “We are trying to learn as much about this as we can so we can inform the commission (PSC) and make informed decisions. It’s not clear what this will do to rates.”
Among other things, the regulator will look at “energy trading and energy pricing benefits” within an ISO and RTO model and the effects on current and potential generation resource mixes versus “business as usual,” according to a copy of the guidelines of a study that the state may conduct.
The guidelines, obtained by Cowboy State Daily, ask for input from vendors to address the impact of Wyoming utilities joining one, two or no ISO or RTO.
In The Dark
Wyoming is somewhat in the dark when it comes to these ideas on ISOs and RTOs, which is why the state is gathering information on them, Burbridge said.
“Everyone tells you that this is a more efficient system and that it’ll keep rates down,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out the risks and benefits.”
There are four companies helping guide the Wyoming PSC with its confidential study on electrical grids. They’ve already presented their information on the ISOs and RTOs to the state regulator.
These consultants include Charles River Associates, a Boston-based global consulting firm offering economic, financial and strategic expertise; the Brattle Group Inc., a Boston-based consultant on economics, finance and regulation; Energy Strategies LLC, a Salt Lake City-based energy consulting firm; and MC2 Collaborative, a Sheridan, Wyoming-based consulting firm.
The request for information from the vendors was designed to “give a landing spot to the state to determine which direction they’d want to go,” said Lisa Mueller, chief operating officer of MC2 Collaborative.
“It is a big deal and there’s lot of risk, or interest,” Mueller told Cowboy State Daily. “There is certainly an amount of commitment to confirm what those ideas are, or risks.”
Keegan Moyer, principal with Energy Strategies, confirmed that his firm also had provided information to Wyoming on the RTOs and ISOs.
Moyer declined to elaborate.
Spokespersons with Charles River Associates and Brattle Group did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
