TEMPE, Ariz. — The Western Power Pool faced “real potential weaknesses” in 2024 due to staff shortages and outdated financial and accounting systems that needed to be addressed quickly, the organization’s leadership said during WPP’s annual member meeting in Tempe on Jan. 24.
Following the WPP’s Board of Directors approval of a 13% budget increase — from approximately $13.4 million to $15.3 million — for the 2024/25 fiscal year, the organization embarked on a hiring spree to improve operational oversight and meet future challenges, WPP CEO Sarah Edmonds said during the meeting.
The new hires include a chief financial officer, board administrator, human resource manager, program management analyst, technical trainer and graphics designer. Edmonds said WPP also modernized its finance and accounting practices by moving from manual spreadsheets to automated systems.
“We do need to keep adding people, but not at the scale of last year,” she added. “That was a serious and somewhat urgent investment for some areas of real potential weaknesses that we needed to address quickly.”
WPP coordinates six stakeholder-driven programs aimed at improving the power grid in the West, including the Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP) and Western Transmission Expansion Coalition (WestTEC). All these programs have experienced growth in scope and regional expansion at a time when WPP’s “house wasn’t really properly in order,” Edmonds said.
Edmonds also acknowledged that WPP historically has not been as transparent as it should be.
However, the efforts to boost staffing and modernize WPP’s financial structure have paid off, according to board Chair Bill Drummond. He noted that WPP “has been almost like a startup in many respects. It has scaled up to such an amazing degree.”
Moving into 2025, Drummond said the financial and accounting systems are “in great shape now. Got that where it needs to be.”
Edmonds said cybersecurity is the next target area. She noted that’s an area not unique to WPP and has been underinvested in “given the kinds of threats that are out there on the system today. So that’s up next, and we’ll stay always nimble and vigilant.”
