Treatment of Industrial Conservation Initiative Load in the Day-Ahead-Market
May 15, 2025
The launch of the renewed market introduced a financially binding Day-Ahead-Market (DAM). Now that the renewed market is operating, the IESO is making further refinements to ensure that day-ahead prices reflect the best understanding of real-time conditions and that the DAM enables reliable operations by scheduling and committing enough supply to meet the next day's demand.
As of June 2, 2025, the IESO will be refining the integration of the Industrial Conservation Initiative (ICI) within Passes 1 and 3 of the DAM calculation engine. No change is occurring in how ICI is handled within reliability-focused DAM Pass 2. ICI activity will be treated in the following manner in the DAM:
- DAM Passes 1 and 3 use an average demand forecast and will assume load reductions from ICI. Pass 3 produces the DAM prices.
- DAM Pass 2 uses a peak demand forecast and will capture uncertainties in ICI participant behaviour on peak demand days. Pass 2, the reliability pass, ensures that enough supply is committed to meet forecast peak demand.
This approach allows the IESO to account for the uncertainty of ICI demand reductions in the day-ahead timeframe while ensuring grid reliability and supporting efficient market outcomes.
For more information on ICI, visit the IESO's website. For more information on how the DAM operates, visit the training materials library.