Our vision
Operate the world's most reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable power system.
Our strategy
The 2022-2026 Strategic Plan serves as the central organizing principle and guides the priorities of our internal and external efforts over the coming years. Learn more
Our cultural values
Integrity, Resilience, Accountability, Service, Humility—our shared values. Learn more
What we do
Grid operations
The ISO manages a transmission system that delivers wholesale electricity to local utilities for distribution to consumers.
Market administration
Our day-ahead and real-time markets ensure enough energy is procured, confirmed, and optimized to foster grid reliability.
Transmission planning
We identify regional grid reliability requirements and projects that yield economic benefits for consumers.
Oversight
History
Since our beginning in 1998, many great strides have been made by the ISO to operate a power system that serves over 30 million customers. From regional collaboration efforts to the integration of renewables such as solar and wind power, each milestone in our history leads us closer to our Vision of operating world’s most reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable power system.
In the past, the electricity industry operated as a monopoly with one local utility providing generation, transmission, and distribution services for its area. The 1992 Federal Energy Policy Act allowed for the creation of independent system operators such as the ISO and introduced competition to the wholesale side of the electricity business.