DETROIT — MISO said its 2026 budget requires an increase of more than 11% over 2025’s.

MISO plans to allot itself $448.4 million in operating expenses and project investments in 2026, up 11.2% from 2025’s $403.3 million budget, CFO Melissa Brown told the Board of Directors’ Audit and Finance Committee on Oct. 29.

The RTO said it would increase its administrative fee from 51 cents/MWh in 2025 to 54 cents/MWh in 2026.

Brown told the committee that modern systems are more expensive to implement and maintain, and MISO needs to spend more to complete the switch from its legacy software to newer technology.

“That’s kind of the balancing act we’re in right now,” Brown said.

The committee voted unanimously to recommend the budget. The full board will vote on whether to approve the draft 2026 spending amounts at its year-end meeting Dec. 11 in Indianapolis.

Brown said the budget may be reduced by that time, with MISO shedding about $2 million to $3 million in project investments.

MISO now experiences more volatility in its financial estimates for its major projects, Brown said, including evolving design work on new initiatives such as planning for large loads, rolling out ambient-adjusted ratings for transmission lines, working on the interconnection queue fast lane and getting the regular queue down to a single-year process.

The RTO also plans to hire 28 staff members for new positions in 2026, spread across operations, planning and cybersecurity.

Brown said MISO’s capital investments will jump to $32.4 million in 2026 — up $2 million — mainly from an upgrade to its headquarters-based control room in Carmel, Ind. Brown said the control room hasn’t had an overhaul since its inception.

“To say that it is overdue is probably an understatement,” Brown said during MISO’s last Board Week in Detroit in September.

The stakeholder-led Finance Subcommittee has endorsed the budget.

“MISO has taken a conversative approach with the budget and not yet factored potential load growth from data centers and other new load activity, which could reduce MISO rates,” subcommittee Chair Mitch Myhre, of Alliant Energy, said of the RTO’s 2026 financial plans at the Advisory Committee’s meeting Oct. 28. If MISO collects more from members because of more load being served, it could lower the rate it charges members. But Myhre said the “dynamic environment” today means no one quite knows how much load upsurge to expect.