The Colorado Public Utilities Commission in December approved Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association’s Organized Wholesale Market application, finding that Tri-State’s expanded participation in the Southwest Power Pool Regional Transmission Organization is in the public interest.
Tri-State’s application outlined how its participation in the SPP RTO is the most cost-effective path to market participation, which promotes overall system reliability, resilience and efficiency while returning economic benefits to the membership.
In its written decision approving Tri-State’s application, the CoPUC found that Tri-State's expanded participation in the SPP RTO is in the public interest, provided that Tri-State comply with certain annual reporting requirements on greenhouse gas tracking, generator interconnection queue reforms and seams issues.
“Our participation in the western expansion of the Southwest Power Pool’s regional transmission organization is a significant development for our members and represents the culmination of years of proactive effort by Tri-State to expand RTO participation into the West.” said Duane Highley, Tri-State’s Chief Executive Officer.
Tri-State’s application filed in June 2025 outlined the significant benefits of expanded participation in the SPP RTO under a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved SPP tariff.
Tri-State and six other Western utilities are preparing for full market integration in April 2026. The SPP RTO West will include utilities and transmission providers currently participating in the SPP Western Energy Imbalance Service (WEIS) market, including Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Colorado Springs Utilities, Deseret Power Electric Cooperative, the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska, Platte River Power Authority and the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA).
Tri-State is a power supply cooperative with utility electric distribution cooperative and public power district members in four states that together deliver power to more than a million electricity consumers across nearly 200,000 square miles of the rural West.
