Commitment Costs Refinement 2012

Through this initiative, the ISO will evaluate several more opportunities to further improve the specification of start-up and minimum load costs.  The ISO plans to weigh changes to the proxy minimum load cost option to consider the following:  1) costs due to the upcoming greenhouse gas “cap-and-trade” program in California;  2) costs associated with operational flow orders in the natural gas market; and 3) the cost of the grid management charge into minimum load costs.  The ISO also will evaluate changes to the registered cost option cap for start-up and minimum load costs, a fixed adder to proxy start-up calculations to cover major maintenance expenses, and additional issues related to commitment costs as requested by stakeholders.