July 26th U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee Hearing Addressing the Wholesale Electricity Market: Southwest Power Pool President Nick Brown Testimony

The United States House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee (“Committee”) held a July 26th hearing titled:

Powering America: A review of the Operation and Effectiveness of the Nation’s Wholesale Electricity Markets

The witnesses included Mr. Nick Brown who is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Little Rock, Arkansas based Southwest Power Pool.

The purpose of the hearing was to evaluate the current state of wholesale electricity markets in the United States.

The other witnesses scheduled to testify at the committee hearing included:

• Dr. Keith Casey

  Vice President, Market and Infrastructure Development, California Independent System Operator Corporation

• Mr. Richard Doying

  Executive Vice President, Operations, Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.

• Mr. Craig Glazer

  Vice President, Federal Government Policy, PJM Interconnection, LLC

• Mr. Bradley C. Jones

  President and Chief Executive Officer, New York Independent System Operator

• Ms. Cheryl Mele

  Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Electric Reliability Council of Texas

• Mr. Gordon van Welie 

    President and Chief Executive Officer, ISO New England

The issues examined at the hearing included:

• The current state of the RTO/ISO energy and capacity markets, and predictions regarding the long-term functioning of the markets

• The state of regional and interregional transmission planning and development across the RTOs and ISOs

• Whether the RTO/ISO markets can accommodate state policies, and if so, how the objectives of state policies may be met while also preserving the efficiency of the markets

• How big RTOs and ISOs are preparing to incorporate new resources into the markets while the diversity of the generator fleet continues to change

• State coordination between RTOs/ISOs and the interstate natural gas pipelines to ensure reliable delivery of natural gas supplies to natural gas-fired generation

A copy of Mr. Brown’s written statement can be found here.