ISO New England (ISO-NE) wants to become a regional transmission organization (RTO). But just the idea-prior to any official filing at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-has come under attack. ISO-NE is going to find rough waters ahead, despite a three-year effort aimed at a smooth transition to becoming an RTO. And now with the Oct. 31 filing of the 2,000-plus-page RTO proposal at FERC, the stage is set for these battles to be fought, again.

ISO-NE already has had to answer, albeit informally, to a group of attorneys general and consumer advocates upset by their beliefs that the new structure would raise rates. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly led the attack, arguing that New England consumers could be stuck with an added tab for energy costs of between $40 million and $70 million if the RTO proposal is approved. Blumenthal and Reilly, joined by the Rhode Island attorney general and consumer counsels in Connecticut and New Hampshire, and the public advocate in Maine, commissioned a study by Synapse Energy Economics Inc. to discern the cost impact of the transition to an RTO.