History
The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) has recognized a need for active interaction between WECC’s Compliance Staff and entities that are subject to WECC’s compliance enforcement authority, as delegated by the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO). In an effort to meet that need, WECC established outreach with a mission to provide an open forum for the exchange of information regarding the WECC Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program (CMEP) for mandatory and enforceable Reliability Standards in the Western Interconnection. Many entities in the Western Interconnection expressed the need for a forum independent of the WECC. As a result of these discussions the Western Interconnection Compliance Forum (WICF) was formed in 2007 as a new organization within the Western Interconnection supported by and on behalf of entities that are subject to WECC and NERC Reliability Standards. A WICF Steering Committee has been formed that is comprised of volunteers representing
various entities in the WICF membership.
Vision Statement
WICF provides entities that are subjected to NERC Reliability Standards compliance and enforcement within the Western Interconnection a venue to share knowledge and lessons learned regarding compliance matters and ideas to promote best practices that help ensure the reliable operation of the Bulk Electric
System.
Purpose
The purpose of WICF is to:
- Provide an open forum for members to share compliance lessons learned and effective ways to implement the NERC Reliability Standards.
- Promote consistent application of the NERC/WECC CMEP within the Western Interconnection and consistent Regional Entity enforcement across the interconnections subject to NERC Reliability Standards.
- Identify and communicate issues that may impact the ability of Registered Entities to comply or effectively meet the requirements of the NERC Reliability Standards.
- Foster a collaborative relationship between the Registered Entities, WECC, and NERC where the collective voice of the WICF membership can be heard in an effort to promote a cost effective, efficient and reasonable implementation of the NERC/WECC CMEP.
Membership
An individual seeking WICF membership can attain eligibility by demonstrating any one of the following:
- Anyone currently employed by a NERC Registered Entity operating in the Western Interconnection,
- Anyone under contract by a NERC Registered Entity to perform work related to NERC compliance for that Registered Entity,
- Anyone currently employed by an Entity operating in the Western Interconnection that previously had a defined NCR number but has been deregistered; or,
- Anyone employed by a company which has received written confirmation from WECC of a pending NERC registration, or
- Employees of industry organizations or trade associations whose membership in WICF is determined to be beneficial to the membership. Industry organization and trade association memberships will be approved by the WICF Steering Committee.
- A list of industry organizations and trade associations with membership will be subject to review at any time and will be provided to a member upon request.
All WICF members may attend and participate in meetings, vote, as well as access and supplement the organization’s website.
If a member ends employment or contractual obligation with that NERC Registered Entity, or WICF Steering Committee approved industry organization or trade association, the member shall notify WICF upon the end of the affiliation for membership termination. If the member expects to continue WICF membership via reestablishment of member qualifications as required in this Charter, membership shall be suspended until qualification is reestablished.
Access to both the WICF meetings and member website (Groupsite) is granted to professionals who are seeking information in their efforts to improve the mandatory reliability compliance industry, but not for direct financial benefit.
Any member who is determined to be directly soliciting business from the WICF membership through its forum and/or benefiting financially from membership may have membership revoked by a majority vote of the
Steering Committee. WICF members concerned with the activity or behavior of any member may file their concern with a WICF Steering Committee member.
Access to WICF closed meetings or the private members-only website (including the members-only discussion forums) are not intended for individuals that perform a monitoring or enforcement role in any Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program that relates to the NERC Reliability Standards.
It is the intention of the WICF Steering Committee that all material discussed at WICF meetings and on the members-only website shall be treated as confidential and proprietary and is restricted to internal use only within the WICF membership. However, the WICF Steering Committee cannot ensure all information is protected as confidential and accordingly members must use at their own risk. Information is not intended to be released to the public, media, individuals that perform a monitoring or enforcement role, or other personnel who do not have a valid need to know.
WICF Steering Committee Qualifications
In order to run for a position on the WICF Steering Committee, WICF Members must meet one of the following
criteria:
- Currently employed by a NERC Registered Entity operating in the Western Interconnection with a defined NCR number, or
- Currently employed by a company which has received written confirmation from WECC of a pending NERC Registration.
- In those WECC jurisdictions where a registry is held separate from NERC, that region’s registry will be considered the equivalent of the NERC Registry.
WICF Members not meeting the above criteria, and therefore unable to be a member of the WICF Steering Committee, consist of:
- Anyone currently employed by an Entity operating in the Western Interconnection that previously had a defined NCR number but has been deregistered;
- Anyone under contract to perform work related to NERC compliance for a NERC Registered Entity operating in the Western Interconnection; or
- Employee of industry organizations whose membership in WICF is approved by the WICF Steering Committee.
Structure and Operation
Steering Committee Officers: WICF Officers shall consist of a Chair, a Vice Chair, a member services manager and a Secretary each serving one (1) year terms until the next officer election, with no limit to the number of total terms.
WICF Officers will be nominated and voted on by the WICF Steering Committee with the majority vote prevailing.
Annual Officer Elections will be completed by January 15 of each calendar year. The terms of WICF Officers commence immediately upon the official conclusion of the annual Officer election and the term shall last until the next annual Officer election. To be eligible to serve as a WICF Officer, a Steering Committee member must first have served approximately one year as a Steering Committee member and have NERC Reliability Standard compliance experience related to their employment at a Registered Entity.
The Steering Committee member responsibilities, under the direction of the WICF Officers, may include, but are not limited to, coordination of meetings, developing meeting agendas, managing WICF networking and communication tools, communication on compliance matters, and actions undertaken by WICF members that are consistent with the scope set forth in this charter.
WICF Officers, or their designee, are expected to attend appropriate WECC meetings such as open sessions of the WECC Board and Committees meetings and the NERC Trades Committee.
Steering Committee Members: It is the goal of the Steering Committee to represent the diversity of the Registered Entities within the Western Interconnection. The Steering Committee shall be composed of Registered
Entity members of WICF, nominated and elected by receiving the largest number of votes from the membership. The Steering Committee is comprised of fourteen (14) members. Each Registered Entity is limited to one (1) Steering Committee representative. The Steering Committee may choose to accept or decline a representative from WECC and/or NERC to act as a liaison to the Steering Committee.
Terms: The term for each Steering Committee member is for a period of three (3) years with no limit of total terms. Approximately one-third of the Steering Committee members shall be subject to the annual Steering Committee election. The Steering Committee may adjust terms as necessary by
majority vote to achieve the intent of approximately one-third annual turnover.
Standard Elections: The annual election of Steering Committee Members shall be held following the first WICF meeting of each calendar year. Each candidate shall be afforded time to present their qualifications to the WICF membership during a WICF meeting before a ballot is submitted to the
membership. The annual election will be completed and results posted approximately thirty calendar days after conclusion of the WICF meeting. The term begins for a member upon the posting of the official election results and terminates approximately three years later upon the posting of the
official election.
Steering Committee Member (SCM) Replacement: At times unexpected SCM vacancies occur. As necessary, the Steering Committee may choose to either conduct a new special election or appoint an SCM based on recent standard or special election to fill this unexpected vacancy. The SC will determine the
direction based on the timing of the SCM vacancy. If a new special election is necessary the membership will vote and survey results will be posted.
Alternatively, the SC could utilize a recent standard or special election to replace the SCM vacancy with the candidate who obtained the next-largest number of votes from the membership. In both cases, a newly elected or appointed SCM shall typically serve the remaining term of the vacancy.
Meetings: The Steering Committee shall meet in person or via teleconference as necessary to fulfill its duties but not less than quarterly. The WICF membership shall endeavor to meet at least two times per calendar year. The date and time for the meetings shall be established by the Steering Committee.
Voting: Any official motion of WICF shall require a vote of its membership to formally approve the matter. Examples of official motions of WICF may include but are not limited to amendments to the Charter, election of Steering Committee members Votes may occur either by secret ballot, at a
regularly scheduled WICF meeting or via electronic balloting. A simple majority vote is required to approve the motion forward.