On December 6, the IESO Board of directors unanimously approved all the recommendations of the Advisory Group on Market Rule Governance & Decision-Making Processes. The Advisory Group was formed in August 2018 for the express purpose of preparing recommendations on how to improve the governance and decision making processes that are within the control of the IESO. APPrO and other stakeholders had consistently advised the IESO that governance improvements would be necessary for the Market Renewal project to be successful.
The recommendations fell into three broad categories: transparency, inclusiveness and remedies. Recommendations for enhanced transparency included publicly posting market rule amendment proposal submissions to the Board, written reasons for Board decisions on market rule amendments, and introducing greater clarity to the distinction between a market rule and market manual. Recommendations for inclusiveness included enhanced stakeholder consultation for market rule amendment proposals and market manual changes, introducing a stakeholder Markets Committee, funding low volume consumer representation, and stakeholder consultation on recruitment for Technical Panel and Dispute Resolution Panel members. Finally, recommendations for enhanced market participant remedies included broadened mediation/arbitrator selection rights for market participants and a commitment to exploring new opportunities for market participant redress in the Market Renewal design engagements.
The IESO noted that, “Throughout the consultation, all Advisory Group members were engaged, considerate of the input and sometimes conflicting positions of fellow Advisory Group members, and committed to finding solutions that benefitted the collective.” The IESO thanked all participants for their contributions over the course of the governance and decision‐making engagements.
At the IESO Board meeting of December 6, APPrO President Dave Butters, quoting Churchill, observed “this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning…” He expressed satisfaction with the progress being made on IESO governance, describing it as “a work in progress with more to do in 2019 and beyond.”
The full recommendations for enhanced governance procedures are available on the IESO and APPrO websites.
See related story “IESO launches consultation on governance and decision-making,” IPPSO FACTO, November 2018.