APS, SRP among Arizona utility companies joining Markets+ energy market

PHOENIX — Four leading Arizona utility companies have agreed to join a new regional energy market called Markets+ in a move expected to create savings for customers and improve grid resilience.

Arizona Public Service, Salt River Project, Tucson Electric Power and UniSource Energy Services announced their commitment to the consortium last week.

APS and SRP are the primary electricity providers for metro Phoenix, while UniSource serves customers in Mohave and Santa Cruz counties.

Why do utility companies participate in energy markets?

Utility companies participate in different types of energy markets to buy and sell excess electricity to address typical and atypical shifts in supply and demand.

“For example, on a cold day in Washington and Oregon, out here in Arizona we might have excess resources and we would be happy to sell them to Washington, Oregon, provide that margin to our customers, lower costs, but also improve the reliability of Washington and Oregon,” Kent Walter, director of western market affairs for APS, told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

Conversely, on hot days Arizona utilities could buy electricity from energy market members in cooler regions at a savings.

What does Markets+ offer members?

When it launches, probably in 2027, Markets+ is expected to include utilities in the Northwest, Southwest and Mountain West. Walter said the broad footprint will improve grid reliability across the western U.S.

“That market will then match the most cost-effective grouping of resources with those customer demands in order to drive a more cost-effective solution for all the participants involved,” he said.

Walter explained that Markets+ will be both a day-ahead market and a real-time market.

“That will transition us to being part of a centralized solution for more than just a real-time market, but also extend that into our day-ahead planning horizon to drive more savings for customers, greater reliability and better integration of clean energy resources,” he said.

Arizona Corporation Commissioner Nick Myers said said he was pleased to see state utilities committing to Markets+.

“There is much to commend in Markets+: a governance structure that empowers all market participants to have a meaningful voice, tariff language that aims to keep greenhouse gas policy costs in their respective states, and a method of calculating resource adequacy that is fair for all participants,” Myers said in a press release.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Balin Overstolz McNair contributed to this report.

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