Developing a transmission business plan for a G&T Client (Strategic Economic Analysis)
“I’m a return customer, because I think MCR really possesses an excellent understanding of transmission as a business and how to create value from investing in transmission. They were very useful in conveying those concepts and helping people apply those concepts towards building a concrete and actionable plan.”
—CEO, G&T
Background
A generation and transmission (G&T) cooperative faced increasing transmission rates and growing reliability needs of its members. The G&T asked MCR to lead an effort to develop a transmission business plan that articulated a clear vision and identified transmission investment opportunities that would enhance the reliability of cooperative members while also providing revenue that could partially hedge rising transmission rates.
Solution
MCR led a senior client working team through a series of team meetings designed to develop a Transmission Business Plan. MCR’s approach included understanding key transmission industry issues/trends and methods for creating value for its members, articulating a vision for the transmission area, developing key strategies, identifying specific transmission project opportunities for improving member reliability and creating financial value. The client identified projects for reliability improvements with MCR using its Transmission Project Evaluation Tool™ to conduct the financial analysis. Based on the client’s research and phone interviews with other utilities, the team also identified an initial set of reliability metrics to help focus the G&T’s reliability efforts. In addition, MCR assisted the team in identifying the transmission functions, staffing levels and capital investment required to run transmission more like a business.
Results
The financial analysis of various project opportunities showed there was substantial net present value to the G&T’s members of investing in transmission projects identified during the engagement compared to business as usual. Pending Board approval, the G&T intends to move forward with its Transmission Business Plan, including implementation of about a dozen strategies that will create value for its members through reliability improvements and revenue enhancement.