News Release

July 21, 2003

WestConnect Participants and Others Agree
To Look at Costs and Benefits of Proposed RTO

Albuquerque: Participants of WestConnect, a proposed regional transmission organization (RTO) for a portion of the Western Interconnection, have joined with other Western organizations to hire Tabors Caramanis and Associates (TCA) to complete a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed RTO.

WestConnect participants, along with a broader group of transmission owners and other energy organizations in the Western Interconnection, have hired Cambridge, Mass.-based TCA to complete a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed RTO.

"We believe a thorough cost-benefit study helps lay the groundwork for an effective and efficient RTO," said Charles Reinhold, WestConnect project manager. "The results of the cost-benefit study will ultimately help us make better informed decisions about WestConnect's structure, timing and a host of other issues."

The study will be completed by the end of 2003 and will analyze all aspects of WestConnect's structure so that it complies with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) Order No. 2000, which established broad parameters for RTO formation and operation.

"This is an important and challenging project that should summon a wide variety of talents from our project team, ranging from in-depth understanding of market design issues, power industry economics and engineering to innovative simulation approaches relying on sophisticated modeling tools," said Dr. Richard D. Tabors, president of TCA. "Certainly, our prior experience with the RTO West cost-benefit study and in-depth knowledge of power markets within the WECC region will be of great help."

In doing the study, TCA expects to model the entire Western electric grid, with particular focus on the Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions.

"This study should be a good complement to earlier studies analyzing RTO operations in the Western Interconnection," Reinhold said.

Ellen Wolfe of TCA's Western office, who led the RTO West cost-benefit study, will also lead TCA's WestConnect study team. "We have designed a study employing sophisticated modeling techniques that also represents the particular market structure filed by the WestConnect parties," Wolfe said.

WestConnect participants and others are funding the study. Study participants include: Arizona Consumer-Owned Electric Systems (ACES); Arizona Public Service Co.; Basin Electric Power Cooperative; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; Colorado Springs Utilities; El Paso Electric Co.; Imperial Irrigation District; Nevada Power Co.; Platte River Power Authority; Public Service Co. of Colorado; Public Service Co. of New Mexico; Salt River Project; Southwest Transmission Cooperative, Inc.; Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc.; Tucson Electric Power Co. and Western Area Power Administration.