By Amanda Durish Cook

The Organization of MISO States was unable to achieve consensus on a response to a five-question survey asking how MISO should revise its cost allocation procedures, Wisconsin Public Service Commission staffer Randel Pilo said Tuesday.

During the Nov. 22 OMS Board of Directors conference call, Pilo said that although state regulators were not able to reach unanimity on possible revisions to MISO’s cost allocation methodology, the discussion was a “helpful exercise.”

In multiple recent stakeholder meetings, MISO expressed a desire to work on cost allocation revisions through 2017 and implement the change by 2018, when Entergy’s integration transition period — which limits cost sharing in MISO South — expires. (See MISO Stakeholders Propose Changes to Market Efficiency Cost Allocation Process.)

The RTO circulated a five-question survey on market efficiency project cost allocation in October, which asks:

• Should MISO allocate all costs to benefiting local resource zones for economically beneficial projects lower than 345 kV?
• Should MISO investigate additional quantifiable benefit metrics in addition to adjusted production costs for market efficiency projects?
• Should MISO allocate all costs to benefiting local resource zones for economically beneficial projects lower than 345 kV?
• Should MISO allocate all costs to benefiting transmission pricing zones for economically beneficial projects lower than 345 kV?
• Should MISO allocate all costs to a blend of benefiting local resource zones and transmission pricing zones for economically beneficial projects lower than 345 kV?

Pilo said states are “nervous” about a blend of allocation to local resource zones and transmission pricing zones.

MISO will share and go over individual state responses at the Dec. 13 Regional Expansion Criteria and Benefits Working Group meeting and use input to make a conceptual proposal.

Pilo also noted that the questions were close-ended, and some states used an all-no answer strategy in the hopes of getting MISO to pay attention to their written responses.

“Moving forward, MISO has built in a year’s worth of time … and is planning on filing a process with FERC in December 2017,” said David Carr of the Mississippi Public Service Commission.

OMS Executive Director Tanya Paslawski also said work continues on the organization’s 2017 strategic initiative document, which identifies long-term goals similar to the 2016 document. Paslawski said the new document is set to be approved before the new year.

Paslawski also said OMS will adopt a banking resolution Dec. 1 to allow incoming OMS president and Indiana Utility Regulatory Commissioner Angela Weber to sign off on banking transactions. OMS voted to approve Weber as president at its annual meeting in October. She will replace current president and Michigan Public Service Commission Chair Sally Talberg in January.