Monitoring and surveillance of wholesale electricity markets: roles, responsibilities and challenges

Experiences with the deregulated electricity markets have demonstrated that monitoring and surveillance of the independent system operators (ISOs) and the regional transmission organizations (RTOs) wholesale markets is a necessary and critical function. As witnessed in California during 2000 and 2001, dysfunctional wholesale markets can lead into runaway costs and eventual bankruptcies of the, state governments, utilities as well as the small market participants. This paper provides an overview of the roles and responsibilities of various players and the challenges of designing an effective market monitoring system.