The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) has long prided itself on the purity and integrity of its tariffs, administering markets in which financial rights are acquired and sold rather than physical rights. To be sure, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has permitted deviations from the open access transmission model on a case-by-case basis when applicants sufficiently demonstrate that the deviations are consistent with or superior to the provisions of the model (embodied in pro forma Open Access Transmission and Service Tariffs) or are just inapplicable.
On April 13, 2026, FERC approved the first such deviation in NYISO history in order to accommodate the point-to-point transmission system represented by the Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) project (Docket No. ER26-570), a $6 billion, 1,250 MW merchant transmission line. FERC noted that a quick tweak to the tariffs was appropriate because CHPE was to come online in a matter of weeks (it happened on May 12, 2026), and there was insufficient time to develop the software that would allow CHPE’s physical reservation model to be fully integrated into NYISO’s financial reservation system. Thus, CHPE will operate a limited-purpose Open Access Same-time Information System (OASIS) in tandem with NYISO’s OASIS.
The bottom line is that, while CHPE will manage reservations for transmission service in New York, NYISO will schedule service. For the first time since the utility industry was restructured, a market participant holding physical delivery rights will be able to access the New York bulk power system (and to bid into NYISO’s auctions).
Hodgson Russ Insights
This is probably a one-off. CHPE is unique in many ways, being a high-voltage direct current, unidirectional, and buried project relying on a merchant commercial model. Hydro-Québec (HQ) may be losing its appetite for bulk power exports, what with CHPE coming online just after the New England Clean Energy Connect Project did (January 16, 2026). That’s 2,450 megawatts in total. Also, HQ’s reservoirs are low after several years of near-drought conditions. The future would seem to lie in transmission projects that aim to reinforce, reinvent, and toughen the alternating current grid.
Movie tip—Watch The Current War (director’s cut please).
