Running Transmission as a Business: How G&Ts Can Participate in Today’s Transmission Arms Race (white paper)
There has been an “arms race” for transmission investments among investor-owned utilities (“IOU”) and transmission companies (“Transcos”), resulting in substantial increases in transmission rates for all MISO pricing zones. By contrast, many generation and transmission (“G&T”) cooperatives have not increased their transmission investment at the same rate of growth, resulting in substantial exposure to transmission rate increases for their cooperative members. In order to mitigate these rate increases, a G&T needs to run transmission as a business and put in place a business plan and disciplines that focus on creating value for its members.