The Railbelt Transmission Organization (RTO) was established under Alaska Statute (AS) 44.83.700-720 as a division of the Alaska Energy Authority and consists of a representative from:
The RTO is responsible for establishing and administering a non-discriminatory open access transmission tariff that (1) provides for the recovery of Railbelt backbone transmission costs and related ancillary services; and, (2) replaces wholesale charges assessed by unit by each utility in the Railbelt charges with a new mechanism that fairly recovers and equitably allocates the costs of operating the backbone transmission system.
The transmission assets are independently owned by AEA and the Railbelt utilities. The RTO does not own any transmission assets.
Required Filings with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA):
The nondiscriminatory open access transmission tariff must, as approved by the RCA, (1) pool backbone transmission system costs and allocate those costs through certificated load-serving entities on a coincident peak or load ratio share basis, or a combination of both; and (2) account for
(A) required backbone transmission system ancillary services; (B) backbone transmission system congestion; (C) disruptions to the backbone transmission system that result in the isolation of one geographical area of the backbone transmission system from another for more than 24 hours; and (D) costs to own and operate the backbone transmission system, as established by the commission or by contract, including transmission costs associated with the Bradley Lake hydroelectric project. A Railbelt utility shall pass the commission-approved transmission costs directly and transparently to the utility's customer