In December 1999, the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Order No. 2000, requiring all public utilities that own, operate or control interstate transmission facilities to file a proposal or a progress report on how they would create or join a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO), or to describe any barriers to joining or forming such a group. In short, an RTO acts as an umbrella organization that brings all public utility transmission systems within a region under common control, and FERC had hoped to complete the RTO formation process by December 12, 2001.
