Despite interconnections stretching out to California, Montana, and British Columbia, the Bonneville Power Administration has not been able to continue talks with its neighbors long enough to form a regional transmission organization. Grid West stated January 6 that BPA and Puget Sound stopped funding development and are no longer expected to participate in the group as transmission owners. Grid West was put together last year by Avista, Idaho Power, NorthWestern Energy, PacifiCorp, Portland General Electric, Puget Sound Energy, Sierra Pacific Power, and British Columbia Transmission as well as BPA. Grid West was developed to manage the grid much like a regional transmission operator, but it would not be qualified as one under federal regulatory standards. Grid West released a report after the BPA/Puget pullout, indicating that its proposed design remains technically feasible and cost-effective with two fewer participants. On January 12, a group including Bonneville and Puget Sound joined with Chelan County PUD, Grant County PUD, and Seattle City Light to announce a January 27 meeting in Portland aimed at forming a new organization to reduce interface seams with Grid West.
