Announcement of Public Workshops on the NERC Electric Reliability Panel Report

The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) is sponsoring two public workshops on the report of the Electric Reliability Panel – RELIABLE POWER: Renewing the North American Electric Reliability Oversight System. These one-day facilitated workshops are designed to explain the panel’s report and solicit comments to help NERC develop specific policy recommendations and implementation plans for redesigning NERC.

Workshop Dates and Locations:
February 17, 1998 – 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
South San Francisco Conference Center
255 South Airport Boulevard South San Francisco, California 94080
Tel: 650-877-8787

February 19, 1998 – 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001
Tel: 202-789-1600

Background
In August 1997, NERC assembled the Electric Reliability Panel to recommend the best ways to establish, oversee, and implement policies and standards to ensure the continued reliability of North America’s interconnected bulk electric systems in a competitive and restructured electric industry. NERC imposed no limits on the panel’s advice about what kind of reliability organization will be needed for the future. The panel submitted its report to NERC on December 22, 1997.

Workshop Objectives
NERC is holding these workshops to help its Future of NERC Review Team develop specific policy recommendations and implementation plans. The objectives of the workshops are: * Explain the panel’s report and answer questions. * Hear arguments for or against particular recommendations in the report. * Receive suggestions for implementing the report’s recommendations.

Public Comment Process
NERC has posted the final report of the panel on the Internet (http://www.nerc.com/ ~blue/index.html) and is providing 60 days for comments (through March 10, 1998). The questions the review team would like parties to address in their responses are attached to the Notice of Public Comment, which is also posted on the web. All comments will be accepted but must be supplied electronically. NERC will then post all comments it receives on its web site.

What’s Next
Based on comments from these workshops and comments posted on the NERC web site, the review team, assisted by several task groups that it creates, will draft policy recommendations for the NERC Board of Trustees. These recommendations will form the basis for a detailed implementation plan. The draft policy recommendations will be the subject of two additional one-day workshops, tentatively scheduled for March 30 (Dallas) and April 2 (Toronto). The review team will submit final policy recommendations to the Board for review and approval at the Board’s May 4-5, 1998 meeting.

Who Should Attend
Senior management personnel from all segments of the electric industry in North America plus federal, state, and provincial regulators and policy makers are encouraged to attend one of the workshops.

The workshops are open to the public. Dress code is CASUAL.

Preliminary Workshop Agenda 8 a.m. Registration and Coffee

9 a.m. Workshop Convenes Plenary Session * Introductions * Workshop objectives and process * NERC action plan and timetable to address the panel’s report * Background of Electric Reliability Panel study * Panel report and recommendations* Q&A

Breakout Sessions (working lunch included) * Discuss the panel’s recommendations in small, facilitated breakout groups * Develop consensus opinions and suggestions to present to the plenary session

Plenary Session * Reports from breakout groups * Q&A* Summary of agreements and actions

4 p.m. Adjourn

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North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC)
116-390 Village Blvd. Princeton , NJ 08540 USA
Main Phone: 609 452 8060 Main Fax: 609 452 9550

Regional reliability councils composed of electric utility systems concerned with the reliability of bulk electric power supply in North America. Organizations comprising the council include in their membership utility systems operating virtually all of the generating and transmitting facilities in 48 American states, the seven bordering provinces of Canada, and a portion of the Mexican power system which is interconnected with that of California. NERC periodically reviews regional and inter-regional reliability and acts as a means for exchange of information on planning and operating matters relating to reliability and adequacy of bulk power supply. Maintains numerous technical subcommittees.