[4] Balancing authorities operation is guided by mandatory reliability standards created by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and approved by the US (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) and Canadian regulators.
[8] The interactions between the BAs and RCs can be compared to the ones between pilots and air traffic controllers.
[6] The quantitative estimate of the balancing is provided through area control error (ACE, measured in MW[10]),[7] that as an indicator is conceptually similar to the role the frequency deviation plays at the interconnection level: positive ACE is pushing interconnection frequency higher.
[11] The operation of a BA is guided by two primary external inputs[9] (that together form the ACE[10]): To maintain the balance, a BA will dispatch the generators and, in some cases, will control the load[3] with the goal to keep the ACE within predefined limits that are usually set to be proportional to the total load services by the BA.
The control is maintained by multiple means: direct control of the generators by the computer systems, dispatch orders to power plants communicated by phone, load shedding in emergencies, and exchanging the electricity with other BAs.