[7] Both Independent System Operator (ISO)s and Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) are organizations formed with the approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to coordinate, control and monitor the use of the electric transmission system by utilities, generators and marketers.

[8] FERC first required transmission owners to provide non-discriminatory access to their lines in Order Nos.

In those orders, FERC noted that ISOs could provide the additional assurance of independence from the owners and eliminate multiple ("pancaked") rates to transmit electricity over long distances.

2000 encouraged the formation of RTOs to regionally manage portions of North America's electricity grid.

Members include investor-owned utilities, public power utilities, and cooperatives, such as: Entergy, AES Indiana, International Transmission Company, Great River Energy, Xcel Energy, and City Water Light and Power.

The new services ushered in MISO's "Day 2" development phase, providing a wholesale electricity market that settles $2 billion in transactions each month.

During this period, MISO grew its employee base to more than 600 staff, and moved the corporate headquarters and operations center under one roof in Carmel, Indiana.

The State Estimator is one of the world's largest computer systems and provides 303,800 data points that are updated every 5 seconds.

[16] As the primary RTO in the Midwest and South United States, MISO carries out operational responsibilities to maintain energy flow.

Projecting power movement in real-time, MISO's control room staff monitors and manages activity on the electric transmission system.

[citation needed] As of 2015 MISO infrastructure planning had four primary objectives: The open market began on April 1, 2005, and has provided financially binding day-ahead and real-time energy pricing.

[18] Since its inception in 2003, MISO Transmission Expansion Plan (MTEP) has been a long-term annual planning study which identifies and supports the development of transmission infrastructure that is sufficiently robust to meet local and regional reliability standards and enables competition among wholesale energy suppliers.