ISO-NE is proposing a roughly 10% increase in its operating budget for 2023 and the addition of more than 50 employees over the next two years as it looks to reshape the region’s electricity markets.

According to a presentation by ISO-NE CFO Robert Ludlow to NEPOOL’s Budget and Finance Subcommittee on Thursday, the grid operator’s proposed operating budget of $209 million is a more than $20 million boost (before depreciation) over that of 2022 and would require $9.475 million more in revenue.

Part of that budget bump is that the grid operator plans to add 52 full-time equivalent positions by 2024, 32 in 2023 and 20 the next year. The largest group of new jobs would be nine additions in market development, as the RTO continues to try to move forward on complex work to update the Forward Capacity Market, including with resource capacity accreditation and new day-ahead ancillary services.

ISO-NE is also proposing to add eight positions to its information and cybersecurity office, five for system planning, and two each in participant relations, advanced technology solutions, system operations and market administration, external affairs and HR.

And it’s budgeting more — $8.4 million in total — for employee raises and benefit increases, plus recruiting, retention and succession planning.

The grid operator’s 2023 capital budget is $33.5 million, a $7 million increase over those of the last few years, driven by the next generation markets project, other market and reliability initiatives, cybersecurity enhancements, and information technology and infrastructure replacements.

The budget finds $3.4 million in savings, including lower salary rates from turnover and retirements, less building maintenance, fewer software licensing costs and more.

Because ISO-NE is funded by fees from market participants and ratepayers, the budget is scrutinized closely by consumer advocates and state officials. The RTO is currently in the process of running the budget by state agencies and planning to ask for a NEPOOL Participants Committee vote in October, shortly followed by a Board of Directors vote and FERC filing.