Railbelt Transmission Organization schedules three subcommittee meetings

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska faced a June 4, 2026 deadline to issue a final decision on the Railbelt Transmission Organization's proposed transmission tariff. Whether that ruling has been issued is not confirmed.

The RTO submitted its Open Access Transmission Tariff to the RCA on July 1, 2025, under HB 307, the law that mandated the RTO's creation. The RCA suspended the filing for investigation on Aug. 14, 2025, and scheduled hearings beginning Feb. 17, 2026. The Railbelt utilities previously received a $206.5 million federal grant through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Program for transmission upgrades.

The tariff would replace individual wheeling charges Railbelt utilities pay to move power across each other's lines. The proposal grandfathers 11 existing transmission agreements, excluding them from the new tariff. If the RCA rejects the filing, it must write its own tariff, pushing implementation further out.

The RTO has scheduled three closed subcommittee meetings via teleconference at the Alaska Energy Authority, 813 West Northern Lights Blvd., Anchorage. The Technical Subcommittee meets at 8 a.m. Wednesday, July 22. The Tariff Subcommittee meets at 2 p.m. Thursday, July 23. The Finance Subcommittee meets at 3 p.m. Thursday, July 23. None of the meetings are open to the public. The RTO's bylaws specify that open meeting provisions do not apply to subcommittee meetings.