REP. PHIL KING, NERC PRESIDENT RICHARD SERGEL FEATURED SPEAKERS AT ERCOT ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING DEC. 13

Texas State Representative Phil King (R-Weatherford), chairman of the House Regulated Industries Committee, will be keynote speaker for the 35th annual ERCOT membership meeting, Tuesday, Dec. 13, at the Hilton Austin Airport Hotel.  Richard P. Sergel, president and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Council, will also address the members. 

The general membership meeting begins at 11 a.m. to confirm and approve the 2006 ERCOT Board of Directors and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), followed by the luncheon speakers. 

The Board of Directors will convene its regular monthly meeting shortly afterward, at approximately 1 p.m., at the Met Center, 7620 Metro Center Drive. 

ERCOT’s members include retail consumers, investor- and municipally-owned electric utilities, rural electric co-operatives, river authorities, independent generators, power marketers and retail electric providers.  Membership in ERCOT is open to any entity that meets one of the segment definitions in the ERCOT Bylaws and operates in the ERCOT region, or represents consumers within the ERCOT region.  ERCOT’s 2006 membership currently includes 140 members (122 corporate members and 18 associate members).

PROTOCOL REVISION REDUCES PAYMENT CYCLE BY ONE WEEK

Implementation of PRR 568 to reduce the wholesale market initial settlement payment cycle by one week is scheduled to begin in January with completion in mid-March.  The protocol revision, which was approved by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on Dec. 1, changes the day the initial settlement statement is issued from 17 days to 10 days after operating day. 

The ERCOT Credit Work Group (CWG) believes that this change will reduce credit exposure for the ERCOT market.  The CWG will consider this reduction in credit exposure as it reviews the market’s overall credit exposure in evaluating collateral requirements and will report back to TAC by May 2006 with any proposed changes in collateral requirements. 

The Commercial Operations Subcommittee recommended a transition plan for implementation to provide data for analysis on impact to the market.   ERCOT Chief of Market Operations Ray Giuliani noted that this is a “huge step forward” for ERCOT risk management.

ERCOT PURSUING RMR AGREEMENTS IN BRAZOS COUNTY

ERCOT staff will be pursuing reliability-must-run (RMR) agreements for two or three Bryan Texas Utilities natural gas units in Brazos County.  Bryan requested permission to decommission four Atkins units totaling 109 MW starting June 1, 2006.  ERCOT's analysis, however, indicated that Atkins generation will be needed during 2006 peak load conditions to maintain reliable service to customers in the Bryan-College Station area.  In addition, construction delays and outages in the area may also necessitate the Atkins generation. 

Unit capacity and in-service years of the three units in consideration for RMR are: Unit 4 – 22 MW, 1958; Unit 5 – 25 MW, 1965; and Unit 6 – 50 MW, 1969.  Exact units/amounts are subject to several variables and will be worked out during contract negotiations.  The fourth unit in the decommission request, Unit 3 – 12 MW, 1955, was not indicated as needed for RMR. 

ERCOT staff is continuing to work with local transmission companies to determine if options are available to reduce the generation need.  

ENHANCED WEB SITE NOW ACTIVE AT WWW.ERCOT.COM

As of Dec. 1, ERCOT’s new and enhanced Web site is now the destination for visitors to www.ercot.com.  The previous website will be available for read-only access throughout December via a link on www.ercot.com or by accessing http://oldercot.ercot.com.  However, only the new website is still being maintained.  Site users who have problems finding their “favorites” or “bookmarks” may email info@ercot.com for assistance. 

ERCOT MEETING CALENDAR

December 2005