MISO has deferred plans for an all-encompassing future-looking assessment that relies on member data after state regulators appeared hesitant about the move.

MISO has its sights set on creating what it calls an “integrated forward assessment,” which would rely on member data to create a one-stop data source for transmission planning, resource adequacy insights, load growth and operational needs.

But some members of the Organization of MISO States (OMS) voiced reservations over how much involvement state regulators would be permitted, or how much influence they would wield over resource adequacy conclusions.

MISO canceled a March 4 workshop to discuss the possibility of a comprehensive assessment. It said it postponed the meeting to a later, unspecified date.

“In the context of growing load, an evolving fleet and a new resource accreditation framework, MISO sees a need to update some of the data and processes underlying the forward assessments we provide,” MISO spokesperson McKenzie Barbknecht said in a statement to RTO Insider.

MISO’s forward assessments include its 20-year transmission futures, its 20-year regional resource assessment, its five-year-out resource adequacy survey in conjunction with OMS and its new attempt at long-term load forecasting.

However, MISO added it’s still determining the “exact scope” of what an integrated forward assessment would encompass.

MISO said the “effort must build on MISO’s partnership with OMS.”

During a Jan. 22 OMS Board of Directors meeting, Minnesota Public Utilities Commissioner Joseph Sullivan said he worried that MISO’s assessments might supplant the annual OMS-MISO resource adequacy survey. He said OMS might need to draw up a written agreement with MISO on how data is construed.

Multiple regulators said they worried about the messaging MISO could share as a result of the surveys and whether OMS’s stamp of approval might be automatically placed on MISO’s conclusions.

Werner Roth, economist with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, said he wasn’t willing to accept “anything less than a full partnership” between OMS and MISO on a more universal assessment.

MISO Senior Vice President Todd Ramey said MISO understands that regulators are in control of resource adequacy in the footprint.

“You guys are in the driver’s seat here,” Ramey told OMS members.

In comments to MISO, OMS said it “cautiously supports moving forward” with an integrated survey design. It said it recognizes that MISO stakeholders could benefit from the increased efficiency and “minimized” confusion that could accompany a more streamlined point of data collection.

Regulators, though, said MISO must take care to preserve state jurisdiction and keep “clear lines of communication” with OMS regarding which data inputs to collect, what scenarios MISO paints and how MISO interprets results.

“Continued discussion and buy-in from the OMS Board will be required as the process develops and on an ongoing basis in order to ensure effective and useful assessments; agreement on that process is a key component needed before entering this discussion,” OMS wrote.

The organization added that it would be open to establishing a memorandum of understanding or enshrining some ground rules in the MISO tariff of business practice manuals.

Barbknecht said MISO “greatly appreciates” OMS’s input and “is taking the time needed to review before moving forward.”