The CAISO Board of Governors and Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) Governing Body voted July 17 to officially change the name of the latter organization to the Western Energy Markets Governing Body to better reflect its full scope of responsibility since it began overseeing the ISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) in March.
“The name simplification represents a huge step in expansion of Western electricity markets,” body member John Prescott said during the joint meeting with the board.
Other members echoed the support.
“We’ve looked at the growth [of the WEIM] over 10 years, and it’s nothing short of phenomenal,” body member Robert Kondziolka said. “It’s now clearly made participants much more comfortable and be able to move forward into a day-ahead market and to be able to broaden this out, and so I think the name change is very positive.”
The motion was directly approved by both entities. A vote by the board to amend CAISO’s corporate bylaws, which also was required to change the name, passed unanimously.
The name will be reflected “as soon as practicable” in governing documents, according to a memo outlining the decision.
“Someone should be able to look at our name and say, ‘We understand what you’re responsible for and who you are,’ and I think this name change actually exemplifies what we’re responsible for and what we’re doing,” body member Anita Decker said. “I really support this change and appreciate the work that staff did to bring some iterations to us and land here.”
