Pathways Initiative and EDAM Update: California Legislation Introduced
NW Energy Coalition
2/21/2025
Contact: Jill Wasberg, 206-790-8151, jill@nwenergy.org
Ben Otto, 208-724-1585, ben@nwenergy.org
Day-Ahead Energy Market related legislation was introduced in California on February 20, 2025. The California unions for utility and electrical workers, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Environmental Defense Fund are working with the legislative sponsors.
Recall the core barrier to prior efforts to create a regional energy market. Today CAISO has the ultimate oversight of the Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) and the CAISO Board of Directors is appointed by the California Governor. As the region considers expanding on the WEIM to build the Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM), the lack of an independent governing entity has been an insurmountable barrier for many entities to expand regional markets.
This bill is an outgrowth of the Pathways Initiative where western stakeholders took a new approach to creating a regional governance entity for WEIM and EDAM. Pathways proposed a new Regional Organization (RO), a truly independent entity created by western stakeholders with specific protections for individual state policies and the public interest.
This bill is very simple. It enables California entities to join an energy marketplace governed by an independent organization. The bill says the organization must have 12 features, which are the key criteria from the Pathways proposal including specific public interest protections in the corporate structure, an Office of Public Participation, and a Consumer Advocates Organization. More details are on this Fact Sheet from the bill sponsor.
This bill is exactly what NWEC expected based on our participation in the Pathways Initiative. We are encouraged it is moving forward while we continue our work on building the new RO and encouraging Northwest utilities to join the EDAM market.
NWEC Statement on California Bill SB 540
For the Northwest, creating a west-wide energy market is the best way to meet growing energy needs, keep energy bills affordable, and prepare for extreme weather events.
That is why we have committed so many resources to the Pathways Initiative to help create an independent regional organization to run the combined Extended Day-Ahead and Western Energy Imbalance Market.
This bill would pave the way for shared governance across all western states in this region-wide energy market. We hope this bill passes quickly so that all utilities in the west join the EDAM energy market.
###