The grid operator will allow generators and energy traders more time to implement its market redesign once in place, but it will not budge on its February 2007 deadline for adopting final market changes. "I'm not prepared to accept delay," Yakout Mansour, California Independent System Operator chief executive officer, told stakeholders August 17. But he said the organization is willing to allow them to implement market redesign in stages. No immediate protests were lodged from the generator community. CAISO has been attempting to redesign its market—which covers about 5 percent of California electricity transactions—since the end of the energy crisis. In the past few months, the grid operator has taken a hard line in its quest to have changes in place in less than two years. Stakeholders have complained mightily that some changes will affect them adversely or won't work according to plan. Despite CAISO's overtures to include them in decision making, a rift remains, according to generators. "It's more an art than a science [deciding] what needs to be in the tariff" because of the stakeholders" differing perspectives, said Sidney Davies, CAISO senior regulatory counsel. The grid operator was updating stakeholders on a simplified reorganization tariff to be filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The revisions aim "to get extraneous information out of the way," she added. Also vetted were reliability-must-run designations for power plants next year, congestion revenue rights, and market-power issues. The CAISO board is expected to vote on the simplified tariff proposal at its September 7-8 meeting. It will likely be filed by September 30.
