NYISO has identified a software issue that potentially constitutes a market problem and will investigate the impact, according to an email the ISO sent to market participants Tuesday night.

In the email, which was obtained by RTO Insider, NYISO said it “is conducting a confidential investigation into the issue” and that it “will inform market participants as soon as practicable after resolution of the underlying issue.”

Shaun Johnson, NYISO director of market mitigation and analysis, addressed stakeholder questions about the notice during a Wednesday meeting of the ISO’s Business Issues Committee.

Johnson said the ISO will label the investigation as “confidential” but does not expect it to be a “long-term” one.

The “expectation is that this issue will be addressed soon, and we will provide more information to the marketplace as soon as possible,” he said. He referred anyone interested in learning more about the procedures for reporting market problems to Section 3.5.1 of NYISO’s market services tariff.

Johnson said he was reluctant to divulge too much information for fear of any parties “gaming or creating harmful outcomes to the NYISO markets,” but sought to answer questions from those curious about the nature, timing and impact of the problem.

In response to a question from Mark Younger, president of Hudson Energy Economics, Johnson said the problem was identified in NYISO’s day-ahead and real-time ancillary services markets.

Andrew Antinori, a director at the New York Power Authority, asked how NYISO determines when an issue is graduated to a potential market problem.

“There’s no bright line or financial threshold, but in order to move from a potential market problem to a market problem, there needs to be a significant impact to market outcomes,” Johnson said.

“We are still in the stages of identifying the exact issue,” he added, “but at this point, it is a potential market problem, and we do not have our arms around the size, scope and impact at this point.”

Bruce Bleiweis, director of market affairs at DC Energy, asked how long the problem has been potentially impacting NYISO markets, and whether it was a “one-day, one-week, one-month or three-year problem.”

Johnson was hesitant to give an exact timeframe but said “it’s certainly been longer than one week and has been a somewhat significant period of time but does not go back several years.” He added later that “as of this morning, the problem has not been resolved.”

Marc Montalvo, CEO of Daymark Energy Advisors, sought clarification on the nature and magnitude of the issue.

Johnson was careful in his response. “There is a definitive issue with NYISO software,” but staff are still unsure “about the extent that issue had on NYISO market systems or will have on those systems,” he said.

However, Johnson made clear that if NYISO finds the issue to be a legitimate problem, then subsequent impact analyses “will glean the extent of the problem and if this was just a defect with little to no impact.”

Antinori and Doreen Saia, an attorney with Greenberg Traurig, asked about NYISO’s interaction with FERC and what, if any, tariff filings may be necessary.

Johnson responded that no tariff waivers or filings are currently necessary but that NYISO staff have been in contact with the commission to keep it appraised of the problem and get its “thoughts and guidance.”

“At this point, we do not expect there to be any need for additional market rules changes or exigent filing with FERC, and the expectation is that this will be resolved with updates to software,” he added.

NYISO must return with an update and more information within 30 days of initial notice, and Johnson said staff plan to return to the Market Issues Working Group meeting either Aug. 3 or 9.

June Market Performance

Also during the BIC meeting, NYISO Senior Vice President Rana Mukerji presented June’s market performance, highlighting how lower fuel prices and cooler temperatures significantly reduced energy prices compared with last year. The month’s locational based marginal pricing was roughly 60% lower than in the same month a year ago.

Mukerji said “fuel prices are at historically low levels” and “natural gas prices are 79% down year-over-year.”

DER Manual Updates

Also, stakeholders unanimously approved multiple distributed energy resource manual updates presented during the BIC meeting.

These updated manuals include revisions that have been discussed over the past year and are part of NYISO’s ongoing work to comply with FERC Order 2222, which required operators to enable DER aggregation market participation and deployment.

The manuals are now moved to the July 20 Operating Committee for approval, and NYISO anticipates the revisions will become effective on the same date as the launch of other tariff and participation models.