SPP stakeholder satisfaction remained high this year, staff told the RTO’s Board of Directors and Members Committee last week during their annual review of organization metrics and feedback.
Mike Ross, senior vice president of external affairs and stakeholder relations, said during the board’s Dec. 5 meeting that all of SPP’s service ratings increased from 2022 by an average score of 0.33, with generator interconnection (GI) seeing the largest improvement (2.59 to 3.01 on a four-point scale, with three points for meeting expectations and four for exceeding them).
Stakeholders rated SPP’s services for GI, stakeholder process, Integrated Marketplace and settlements, operations and reliability, support services, training and transmission planning. Scores were up in all categories and averaged 3.49, with support services part of the survey for the first time.
Staff received a 3.70 score.
SPP distributed 3,220 surveys to its stakeholders, including those in the Western Interconnection. They returned 289 surveys, the most since 2016. However, the 9% response rate was the lowest in recent history.
Staff will distribute the survey results to departments and managers as part of the evaluation process. They will work with Consolidated Planning Process Task Force members to address GI and transmission planning, the two lowest-rated services, Ross said. SPP says it expects to complete a backlog of interconnection requests, dating back to the previous decade, by the end of 2024.
Stakeholder comments on the two services included “accelerated GI study times are also acknowledged and appreciated” and “quit holding GI customer concerns above all others.”
Staff also said audit, tax and advisory services firm KPMG awarded an unqualified audit opinion to SPP’s market operations and transmission service settlements for the 14th straight year. In 2022, the grid operator settled about $49 billion for the Integrated Marketplace and an additional $5.5 billion for transmission.
6 WG Chairs Approved
The board approved the Corporate Governance Committee’s (CGC) nominations for several stakeholder group chairs, who will begin two-year terms, effective Jan. 1.
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- Operating Reliability Working Group: Ron Gunderson, Nebraska Power Public District (NPPD).
- Regional Tariff Working Group: Robert Pick, NPPD.
- Seams Advisory Group: Jim Jacoby, American Electric Power.
- Security Advisory Group: Phil Clark, Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp.
- Supply Adequacy Working Group: Colton Kennedy, Omaha Public Power District.
- Transmission Working Group: Derek Brown, Evergy.
All six are incumbents.
Directors also approved the CGC’s recommendation to revise the Project Cost Working Group’s (PCWG) scope. The PCWG now will review transmission service projects where the cost is 100% directly assigned to one or more transmission customers that are not the transmission owner. The scope previously identified only regionally funded projects as being reviewed.
