Acknowledging that greater cooperation could realize efficiencies and ratepayer benefits, the Legislature directed the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) to investigate and report on means to improve effective and efficient electrical transmission along the Railbelt. The RCA’s recommendations included the need for coordination among stakeholders and enforceable, consistent reliability standards for grid operations. 

In 2020, the Alaska Legislature passed legislation creating an electric reliability organization (ERO) to work on reliability, interconnection, and transmission standards and integrated resource planning for the Railbelt. The legislation positioned the RCA to regulate EROs and retain grid oversight, and defined the ERO’s structure and operating rules to ensure the public interest is met.

Volunteers from a broad range of stakeholder representatives with an interest in Railbelt reliability and planning came together as an implementation committee. The stakeholder groups included Railbelt electric utilities, Alaska Energy Authority, consumer advocates, environmental advocates, independent power producers, and unaffiliated representatives. These stakeholders formed the Railbelt Reliability Council (RRC) organization and applied to the RCA for certification as the Railbelt’s ERO.

A balanced-interest subcommittee structure was employed to develop policies, processes, and other requirements, and to manage independent, nationally recognized subject matter experts on integrated resource planning, governance, standards development and compliance, budget, organizational structure, and public transparency and involvement. From its inception, the RRC required supermajority approval of key actions to ensure robust consensus for the foundational development of the organization and a simple majoryity for other actions.

The RRC was incorporated as a 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation and on September 23, 2022, was approved by the RCA to serve as the Railbelt's ERO. 

The RRC's primary duties includes:

• Establishing and enforcing clear, nondiscriminatory rules of operation for all entities connected to the Railbelt network.
• Ensuring advanced planning of new transmission and generation projects 15 megawatts or greater that are consistent with the public interest and coordinated through an integrated system-wide planning process.
• Fostering increased cooperation among the utilities, others connected to the network and consumers to improve reliability, security, and system efficiencies important to the life, health, safety, and economic well-being of consumers.

The RRC has fifteen board members, including thirteen voting director seats and two ex-officio, non-voting seats. 

The 13 voting director seats are each assigned to a stakeholder class, representing either a power producer stakeholder (utility or independent power producer), a power consumer stakeholder (resident, business, or environmental), or an independent perspective (unaffiliated individual) within the Railbelt. The seats are further designated by more specific characteristics of their stakeholder class, as allowed under ERO regulations. These divisions demarcate interests and are based in part, on their role in grid operations and their interests in reliability standards and integrated resource planning. See the RRC’s ERO application for more detail. 
 

In all, the board includes:

• 4 seats designated to electric utility cooperatives in acknowledgment of the utilities’ vital role in grid operations and planning, with each of the Railbelt’s four electric utilities cooperatives (Homer Electric Association, Inc.; Chugach Electric Association, Inc.; Matanuska Electric Association, Inc.; and Golden Valley Electric Association, Inc.;) appointing a director for one of the seats. These utility seats represent both the producer and the consumer stakeholder groups. The RRC’s ERO application provides more information (pp. 29-30) about how this is reflected in the Board balance.
• 1 seat designated to the Railbelt’s single municipal electric utility, with the City of Seward appointing a director for the seat.
• 1 seat designated to a distribution-only power provider, with Doyon Utilities (currently the only such provider in the Railbelt) appointing the seat director.
• 1 seat designated to the State of Alaska as a power provider and transmission owner that is not a utility, with the Alaska Energy Authority, appointing the seat director.
• 2 seats assigned to independent power producers, in recognition of the increasing number and role of these power providers on the Railbelt grid, the Alaska Independent Power Producer Association (AIPPA) appointing the seat directors.
• 1 seat assigned to residential and small commercial power consumers, with a group of up to 15 residential and small commercial power consumers appointing the director.
• 1 seat assigned to large commercial and industrial power consumers, with a group of up to 15 large commercial and industrial power consumers appointing the director.
• 1 seat assigned to consumers with environmental advocacy as their leading policy priority, with a group of such consumers appointing the director.
• 1 seat assigned to an independent person unaffiliated with a grid entity, recruited in a public process and appointed by the RRC board.

In this manner, every director is appointed by an entity or group, as applicable, of the stakeholder class that the director is tasked with representing on the RRC board. Because the board seats represent stakeholder classes, each director is required to have experience with and understand the issues and concerns of their stakeholder class. Providing the appointees meet this requirement and basic qualifications, they are not subject to additional approvals by the RRC once appointed by the entities or groups.