From the Board Chair and President and CEO

Dear Members and Stakeholders:

As we step into the new year, we are filled with optimism and renewed commitment to our mission of identifying, prioritizing, and assuring the effective and efficient mitigation of risks to reliability and security of the North American bulk power system. The electricity industry is no stranger to uncertainty and change, and the beginning of 2025 has certainly brought its share. While the start of the new year brings a sense of renewed focus, we recognize there are new and unique challenges adding to an already complex and dynamic operating environment.

Recent Presidential Orders, cybersecurity risks, and the impacts of severe weather on the bulk power system were among the topics discussed at MRO’s first board meeting of the year on February 6, held virtually through Webex.

Earlier this month, NERC announced a joint review with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Regional Entity staff on the power grid’s performance during successive cold weather storms in January. A widespread polar vortex brought significant snow and cold across North America, including the southern half of MRO’s region. Although the grid performed without significant disruption, severe cold weather remains a high risk to power grid reliability. Richard Burt, MRO’s Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, informed the board that MRO staff are participating in the joint review and will share any lessons learned.

Camilo Serna, NERC’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and External Engagement, addressed the board, highlighting stakeholder engagement activities that directly support the new ERO Enterprise Long-Term Strategy. Serna discussed collaborative efforts across the ERO Enterprise to raise awareness among federal, state, and provincial regulators about the impact of local policy decisions on reliability of the interconnected bulk power system. Working closely with the ERO State and Provincial Outreach Group, Serna is focused on strengthening existing relationships and building new ones with organizations outside the ERO’s traditional network. The group aims to facilitate targeted discussions on the most significant risks reinforcing the objectivity and independence that establish the ERO Enterprise as a trusted source of information and expertise.

The ERO Enterprise 2024 CIP Themes Report, another collaborative effort, was also discussed. This report presents a joint narrative of areas where ERO Enterprise staff have found it difficult for registered entities to mitigate risks associated with the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Reliability Standards. Tasha Ward, MRO’s Director of Enforcement and External Affairs, and Tom Scanlon, ReliabilityFirst’s Senior Managing Enforcement Counsel, provided an overview, highlighting four general themes: latent vulnerabilities, insufficient commitment to low impact programs, shortages of skilled labor, and performance drift. The report is meant to help industry participants strengthen compliance and security programs.

Bryan Clark, Director of Reliability Analysis, and Tasha Ward provided an overview of MRO’s semiannual Organization Registration, Certification and Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Report. Clark reviewed regional certification and registration activities, which will soon expand to include Category 2 Inverter-Based Resources. Tasha Ward provided compliance and enforcement highlights, noting MRO reduced the non-compliance backlog by more than 100 cases in 2024 and, for the first time ever, processed 364 cases in a single year.

In closed session, the board discussed the renewal of MRO’s five-year Regional Delegation Agreement (RDA) with NERC. Staff noted that the RDA is specific to the United States and MRO has separate agreements with Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The revised RDA will be presented for Governance and Personnel Committee review in March and board approval in June. The board also received an update on the progress of the 2025-28 Strategic Plan implementation and approved proposed 2025 corporate metrics.

Actions taken by the board include:

The board bid farewell to director Fred Meyer of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corporation, thanking him for his dedication and service. We also welcomed the following new members:

The full meeting minutes, detailing the discussions and actions, will be available soon on MRO’s website.

As we contemplate the growing burden of risk to the energy sector, Wayne Dyer’s words resonate: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

By shifting our focus and reframing risks as opportunities for innovation, we can proactively address vulnerabilities before they turn into full-blown crises. We remain focused on understanding today’s challenges and developing a proactive and informed approach to navigating an uncertain future.

As always, we believe we are stronger together and that our future remains very, very bright!

Sincerely,

Dr. Dana Board, Board Chair Sara Patrick, President and CEO