By Jessie Mitchell, MRO Chief of Staff
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is moving forward with significant changes to how it develops and maintains reliability standards, following NERC Board approval of recommendations from the Modernization of Standards Processes and Procedures (MSPP) Task Force in February.
Project Background
Current standards development processes can be lengthy and struggle to keep pace with emerging reliability and security risks. The MSPP Task Force was established in 2025 to conduct a comprehensive review of current processes and procedures and revise them to be more responsive to today’s rapidly evolving energy landscape. The task force’s work focused broadly on three areas: 1) how standards are initiated, 2) how they are developed, and 3) how they are approved through industry balloting. The final recommendations propose changes across the full lifecycle of standards development, transforming and modernizing the standards development process, creating efficiencies and reducing redundancies, and providing clear opportunities for stakeholder input that balance a variety of interests.
February Board Action
The NERC Board accepted the MSPP Task Force’s final recommendations at its February meeting, marking a key milestone in the modernization initiative. The approval followed an extensive stakeholder engagement process that included white papers, draft recommendations, public comment periods, and industry webinars throughout 2025 and early 2026.
Current Status and Next Steps
According to the latest quarterly update, the focus has shifted from developing recommendations to planning implementation. Materials posted by NERC summarize the approved changes and provide process maps to help stakeholders understand how the revised framework will work in practice.
NERC is expected to begin phased implementation of the new processes in May, which includes updates to the NERC Rules of Procedure, adjustments to standards development timelines, and further stakeholder engagement to refine how the changes are applied in practice.
For industry participants and the public, the modernization effort represents a shift toward a more agile and risk-informed standards framework—one intended to better align reliability requirements with the evolving needs of the North American bulk power system.
Further updates are anticipated as NERC advances implementation and evaluates early outcomes of the new approach. Stay tuned for future updates here: https://www.nerc.com/initiatives/modernization-of-standards-processes-and-procedures-task-force.