MISO’s Advisory Committee has voted to allow the RTO’s newly created Affiliate sector voting rights in certain committees.

Sector representatives voted 15-9 during the committee’s teleconference Thursday to recommend that the Board of Directors allow MISO’s 11th sector one vote in the AC and one vote on issues before the Planning Advisory Committee.

The minority of AC members voted in favor of splitting the Environmental Groups sector’s existing two votes with the Affiliate sector. The latter sector was borne from the previous Environmental and Other Stakeholder Groups sector. Currently, it is not allowed a vote in committee matters but had one designated non-voting seat during meetings. (See New MISO Sector Gets FERC OK — with a Catch.)

The decision is considered advisory in nature to the board, where the final determination rests, and came after a failed motion from some members to delay the vote. Some representatives complained that the new sector’s purpose was still too shadowy to yet determine if it is worthy of casting votes like other sectors that have clearer intents.

Representatives have said that the sector should receive one vote when the AC votes on advisory items to the board or RTO leadership. But some members this week seemed split on the issue. Some also said it wasn’t clear how the sector would access or communicate with MISO directors about stakeholder issues.

Environmental Groups representative Beth Soholt called for a “comprehensive” understanding of what exactly is the sector’s purpose before deciding to award it any votes on AC recommendations.

“We’ve heard this is a standalone, catch-all sector, and we’ve also heard this will be an incubator sector. … There is a number of outstanding issues,” Independent Power Producers and Exempt Wholesale Generators representative Travis Stewart said.

During the committee’s Sept. 16 meeting, Public Consumer Advocates representative Christina Baker had also said her understanding of the Affiliate sector was that of an “incubator” for new members until enough like-minded entities joined to branch off into a new sector. She said she was unsure if a collection of miscellaneous entities could get along and agree on a vote.

AC Chair Audrey Penner pushed back on the notion that there was confusion about the Affiliate sector’s purpose.

“I don’t know how else it could be interpreted but that it’s a home for all newcomers that can’t find a place in another sector,” Penner said. She also said she viewed voting rights as a separate issue from how the new sector would interact with the board.

Existing sectors will now draft eligibility criteria and mission statements so it’s clearer where new MISO members should be placed.

Unlike the divergent opinions around Affiliate sector voting rights, nearly all sector representatives have opposed the consolidation of some existing sectors, an idea that was presented earlier as the committee was considering restructuring. (See MISO AC Works on Sector Rules as FERC Timeline Ticks.)

“There’s no desire to consolidate, not even to align,” Penner said.

“We believe that one strength of the MISO stakeholder process is the diversity of opinions,” Soholt said at the committee’s September meeting.

Representatives have also asked that the grid operator allow more informal and less stage-managed access to the board.

“We’re looking for more meaningful interaction with the board,” Stewart said.

Many sector representatives have also expressed the desire to curtail new sector creation in the future.

“We hope that the creation of new sectors will be really limited in the future, and MISO will work hard to find places for new members in the existing sectors,” the State Regulatory Authorities sector’s Julie Fedorchak said.