CAISO is moving toward approval of an $8.5 million financing plan for the Regional Organization for Western Energy’s start-up costs.

One of the first items the yet-to-be-seated board of the Regional Organization for Western Energy could decide on is whether to administer a resource adequacy program, as backers seek to have a proposal in place later in 2026.

Energy officials in Idaho, Utah and Wyoming called on the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative to ensure states with members in the Regional Organization for Western Energy have full access to data and market information, saying failure to do so risks infringing states’ rights and undermining public confidence.

The Regional Organization of Western Energy selected Western Freedom Executive Director Kathleen Staks as its interim president, while regulatory attorney Lisa Tormoen Hickey will assume the role of interim secretary.

The West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative’s Launch Committee asked CAISO to initiate a stakeholder process to create a funding mechanism for the newly incorporated organization that is slated to assume governance over the ISO’s energy markets.

The West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative’s Launch Committee approved the bylaws and incorporation documents for the organization that will govern CAISO’s energy markets.

The West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative soon will begin the nomination process to select the initial board of the independent regional organization that will govern CAISO’s energy markets.

With California passing the bill designed to transition the governance of CAISO’s markets to an independent regional organization, new challenges await the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative as the coalition seeks to turn a once-elusive goal into reality.

California lawmakers have passed a landmark bill that will allow CAISO to transition the governance of its markets to the independent “regional organization” envisioned by the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative.