From Advanced Energy United

This report for Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) by independent consulting firm Energy Strategies finds that establishing a broad, West-wide organized electricity market known as a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) would create as many as 657,000 permanent, high-paying jobs in the West.

The analysis also found that a Western RTO would diversify state economies and save ratepayers millions of dollars per year in energy costs.

An RTO is a cooperation agreement which allows electric utilities across multiple states to share resources and leverage the cheapest, cleanest, and most efficient energy sources through an organized regional market. Currently, the West is one of the only regions in the U.S. without an RTO managing its power grid. The 11 states studied in the report were Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

The analysis found all 11 states could expect economic benefits from a West-wide RTO, driven by lower electricity prices for households and businesses, additional clean energy development across the region, and the expansion of existing, as well as attraction of new, businesses to the West.