WASHINGTON, D.C., April 21, 2022 – Today, national business group Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) reacted to California Independent System Operator's (CAISO) announcement that the Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) has generated $2 billion in costs savings over the last eight years. 

AEE’s Amisha Rai, Managing Director of western states policy, released the following statement on the benefits of an integrated power system:

"The lesson here is that coordination and collaboration across broad geographic areas brings big consumer benefits. The Western Imbalance Market harnesses available resources across multiple service territories and facilitates the integration of advanced energy technologies, creating a more efficient system that saves consumers money and improves reliability throughout the West. 

"The easiest way to save energy consumers money is to make better use of the infrastructure already in place. The WEIM brings together power providers from a large geographic region to better optimize resources and ensure that available energy rarely goes to waste. 

"This major milestone in cost savings could be just the start. The current market works on the margins to improve efficiency and reliability in the short term, but accounts for only about 5% of energy sales in the West. If western states worked together to integrate the entire power system for most energy sales, then instead of saving $2 billion over eight years, customers could see savings of $2 billion every year.”