Information systems supporting electric energy deregulation north America

With the consolidation of the deregulation of the wholesale Electric Power Industry in the United States, several computer systems have been developed to support It. In essence, these systems facilitate open market business practices, transmission system reliability, especially congestion management, and in general Information sharing schemas to allow the market participants to conduct business. The Public Internet and private frame relay connections have been used extensively as the communication mechanism. Examples of these systems are the NERC Interchange Distribution Calculator (EDC), NERC Electronic Tagging System (E-Tag), Open Access Same-Time Information Systems nodes (OASIS), etc. In addition, traditional market participants' back-end processes and systems, i.e. scheduling, trading, financial and accounting systems, have been reengineered to allow integration and Interaction with these systems. This presentation will provide an overview of the major systems in place to support the deregulation of the wholesale Electric Energy Industry In the US and Canada. Emphasis will be placed on the following: how the data and information flows among these different systems, as well as the technology and network security measures to provide a reliable and secure data communication transfer.