News News Releases Archives April–June 2006

Commission conditionally approves Midamerican's Transmission Service Coordinator agreement

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today conditionally approved MidAmerican Energy Co.'s proposed agreement with TranServ International Inc. to serve as the Des Moines, Iowa-based utility company's Transmission Service Coordinator (TSC).

"We expect the TSC to improve transparency of transmission information, enhance transmission access, and relieve transmission congestion," Commission Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher said.

The Commission's approval is subject to modifications intended to ensure the TSC operates independent of MidAmerican. Many of the changes would bring the TSC agreement more in line with prior Commission orders addressing similar proposals, such as Entergy Corp.'s Independent Coordinator of Transmission (Docket No. ER05-1065).

Pending approval of MidAmerican's compliance filing, TranServ, acting as Transmission Service Coordinator, would administer various functions of MidAmerican's open-access transmission tariff (OATT), including:

• Evaluating and approving all transmission service requests;
  
  
• Calculating total transfer capability and available transmission capability on MidAmerican's transmission system;
  
  
• Operating and administering MidAmerican's open-access same-time information system (OASIS);
  
  
• Evaluating, processing and approving all generation interconnection requests, and performing or overseeing all related interconnection studies; and
  
  
• Coordinating transmission planning.
  
  

TranServ is affiliated with Open Access Technology Inc., a company that supplies software used by power grid control areas and transmission operators. The Commission found TranServ to be independent of market participants.

TranServ's parent company "neither purchases, sells or brokers electric energy nor provides ancillary services," the Commission said, noting it was not persuaded that the parent company's economic or financial interests would be significantly affected by the actions of MidAmerican or TranServ.

MidAmerican proposed its TSC after a staff audit identified problems with the company's operation of its transmission system (PA04-18).

R-06-37

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