ST. PAUL, Minn. — The MISO Board of Directors’ Nominating Committee has settled on three candidates to fill the three seats up for election for three-year terms beginning in January. (See “Board Member Search Down to 6 Candidates,” MISO Advisory Committee Briefs.) Director Michael Curran said MISO will consider:

• Todd Raba, who is preparing to exit Twenty First Century Utilities in D.C., a startup company that invests in regulated utilities looking to modernize. Raba also served as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway’s Johns Manville and president of its MidAmerican Energy. He is a former CEO of GridPoint, an energy management company, where he remains a board member. He has a bachelor’s degree in forestry from the University of Vermont.
• H.B. “Trip” Doggett, a former ERCOT CEO who has more than 38 years of experience in the electricity industry. While employed with Duke Energy, Doggett helped to launch CAISO. Doggett also holds a seat on the advisory board of the Texas A&M University Smart Grid Center. He holds a bachelor’s in engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
• Barbara Krumsiek, former CEO of Calvert Investments, a $14 billion asset management firm. Krumsiek began her career in investments more than 40 years ago, and her board experience includes a recent, nine-year stint on Pepco Holdings Inc.’s board of directors. Krumsiek holds a master’s in mathematics from New York University.

Board Chair Judy Walsh and directors Michael Evans and Paul Feldman will reach MISO’s term limit Dec. 31. MISO enacted a limit of three consecutive three-year terms last year.

“I think this is a great slate of new directors,” Walsh said.

MISO Senior Vice President of Compliance Services Stephen Kozey said voting on the candidates began immediately and will continue through Oct. 24. Results will be announced at the October Informational Forum. Kozey said 25% of MISO members need to cast ballots to reach a vote quorum.

Additionally, Curran was elected to lead the board as chairman in 2017, replacing Walsh.

MISO Projected to End Year Close to Budget

MISO management said the RTO is projected to spend between $223.9 million and $226.1 million of its $225 million 2016 budget by the end of the year.

The RTO’s actual year-to-date spending of $149.3 million is under budget by $1.3 million (0.9%).

“We anticipate being within a half percent of the budget by the end of the year,” Vice President of Strategy and Business Development Wayne Schug said during a finance report at the Sept. 15 board meeting. Schug stepped in to deliver the report after former Vice President of Finance Jo Biggers left MISO unexpectedly last month. (See Vice President of Finance Biggers Exits MISO.)

Schug also said MISO is $4.7 million, or 18.6%, under budget year-to-date on its $31 million capital projects spending plan.

Director Baljit Dail expressed concern that not enough capital projects were going to be completed. “I struggle to see how you’re burning through $4.7 million by the end of the year,” he said.

Schug said although some capital spending will be deferred into 2017, MISO will come closer to its capital spending target in the fourth quarter. “We’re going to get closer back to budget but not get all the way back. We’re probably going to be under budget by $0.5 million,” he told the board.

“These numbers are somewhat lagging, [but] because it’s the third quarter, I don’t think we need to be overly concerned. I know you’ll make these adjustments by the end of year,” Director Phyllis Currie said.

MISO has spent $700,000 on NERC’s Critical Infrastructure Protection v.5 cybersecurity compliance and its competitive retail solution for the capacity auction. By year-end, the number is expected to reach $1.2 million.

In response to a question from Currie, Schug said MISO is still considering whether to switch from a 501(c)(4) organization to a 501(c)(3) organization, a topic that was broached at the June board meeting. (See “MISO on Budget in Mid-2016, Considers Becoming 501(c)(3),” MISO Board of Directors Briefs.)

For Now, MISO Bylaw Changes Minimal

Director Thomas Rainwater said the board is making revisions to MISO’s Bylaws/Transmission Owners Agreement that are largely “cleanup” from when the board increased to nine members from seven.

Rainwater also said the board’s Human Resource Committee decided to postpone making changes to pre- and post-service restrictions on directors. MISO is considering reducing the current two-year pre- and post-service prohibition in a utility or the wholesale energy markets. (See “MISO Asks Members to Consider Bylaw Changes,” MISO Informational Forum Briefs.)

Board Wants to Quantify IT Benefits

Dail said the board’s Technology Committee has begun investigating the return on investment for MISO’s information technology spending. Walsh said she would like to see tracking of IT investment returns in an accounting report. Currie called for a more formalized process altogether on budgeting.

Other items also were addressed at the board meeting:

• CEO John Bear asked stakeholders to offer ideas for “hot topics” to discuss during in-person Advisory Committee meetings in 2017. Bear said next year’s topics could include a review of the competitive transmission process, transmission cost allocation on multi-value projects and the “disconnect” on the interconnection queue.
• Organization of MISO States President Sally Talberg said OMS is working on its own seams policy. Talberg also said that because too few generator owners and operators are completing MISO’s Winter 2016/17 Generator Fuel Survey, OMS will provide reminders to MISO members starting next month. The survey data are used in the yearly fuel assurance report. “With OMS as an intermediary, it’s going to be critical to work together,” Talberg said.
• Advisory Committee Chair Audrey Penner wants to include a volunteer event in MISO’s quarterly Board of Directors Week. Penner said when the committee meets in-person, it would be good for members to spend a few hours volunteering with local nonprofits.

— Amanda Durish Cook