Marking the 20th anniversary of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which created the modern-day reliability framework, the NERC Board of Trustees recently affirmed their commitment to assuring the reliability and security of the North American grid by approving the ERO Enterprise’s 2026 budgets and accepting the 2025 ERO Reliability Risk Priorities Report.
Board Chair Suzanne Keenan started the meeting by highlighting the unique and special relationship that NERC and the Regional Entities have with Canada, noting, “We’re connected with a history of respect, mutually interdependent success and shared values.”
In his President’s report, NERC President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jim Robb also emphasized NERC’s partnership with Canada and called attention to the 20-year anniversary of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
“The Energy Policy Act created the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO), launching the modern-day NERC. It shaped the energy landscape by establishing a comprehensive framework for grid reliability and security as a priority for North America,” Robb said. “Twenty years later, this Act has stood the test of time, improving reliability dramatically while showing flexibility in adapting the ERO to the contemporary challenges of a rapidly evolving system. These challenges are continent-wide, spanning national boundaries, so it is fitting that we are in Canada to collaborate as one united North American organization.”
Perspectives on the Canadian and North American landscapes were provided by Francis Bradley, president and CEO, Electricity Canada; and Hal Kvisle, corporate director and board chair, South Bow.
During its meeting, the Board approved NERC’s Business Plan and Budget (BP&B), accepted the 2025 ERO Reliability Risk Priorities Report, and adopted two new standards definitions.
The Board approved NERC’s 2026 BP&B, which proposed a budget increase of 4.3% and an assessment increase of 4.9% over 2025. The 2026 BP&B reflects extensive outreach with stakeholders, including a public webinar and comment period as well as engagement with the Member Representatives Committee’s Business Plan and Budget Input Group and the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center’s Member Executive Committee.
The Board also approved the Regional Entity and Western Interconnection Reliability Advisory Body (WIRAB) budgets, following their respective stakeholder outreach processes and respective board approvals.
The combined 2026 budget increase for NERC, the Regional Entities and WIRAB is 5.2% over 2025, with an assessment increase of 6.9%. The 2026 BP&B will be filed with FERC for approval later this month.
The Board accepted the Reliability Issues Steering Committee’s (RISC) 2025 ERO Reliability Risk Priorities Report, which highlights six key risk themes. Risk priorities include large loads and the changing resource mix, larger-scale widespread events, natural gas interdependence, cyber and physical security complexity, persistent supply chain challenges and volatile energy policy. The RISC strategically defines and prioritizes risks to the grid and provides recommendations to the Board regarding the approach toward managing those risks.
Board Adopts Two New Definitions Tied to Inverter-Base Resources
In standards action, the Board adopted two new definitions related to inverter-based resources for inclusion in the Glossary of Terms used in NERC Reliability Standards: Project 2024-01 – Rules of Procedure Definitions Alignment (Generator Owner and Generator Operator), which aligns with FERC-revised NERC Rules of Procedure registry criteria; and Project 2020-06 – Verifications of Models and Data for Generators, which promotes unified terms for use in Reliability Standards, including FERC Order No. 901 Milestone 3 standards development projects.
During the meeting, the Board received two updates on current work plan priority initiatives: the Modernization of Standards Processes and Procedures Task Force (MSPPTF) activities and the NERC.com Modernization Project.
The MSPPTF recently published a white paper on potential improvement opportunities for the standards development process in three areas: standards initiation, standards development and balloting. Greg Ford, president and CEO of Georgia System Operations Corporation and MSPPTF chair, and Todd Hillman, senior vice president and chief customer officer of External Affairs at Midcontinent Independent System Operator and MSPPTF member, highlighted the extensive outreach efforts that are currently underway.
This includes a stakeholder webinar that took place on July 21 with more than 375 participants, a series of three Q&A webinars with approximately 200 participants in each and several other events across the Regional Entities.
The Board formed this industry-led task force to undertake a strategic review of NERC’s Reliability Standards development process and provide recommendations at the February 2026 Board meeting.
The NERC.com Modernization Project will transform the way NERC and industry use the website, said Kimberly Mielcarek, NERC’s vice president of Corporate and External Communications.
The new website places a high priority on the user experience by featuring a robust search function, more intuitive navigation, the ability to post more visual materials to attract more users — all built upon meaningful analytics and a content strategy that better reflects who NERC is as an organization, Mielcarek noted.
NERC is planning a stakeholder feedback opportunity to allow the NERC team and external stakeholders the chance to use the site and provide comments prior to launch.
During the feedback period, expected to take place at the end of Q3/beginning of Q4, NERC will seek feedback on overall impression, challenges encountered, features liked and functionality for subsequent phases.
