Nevada’s power regulator just approved a behind-the-scenes electricity trade that Nevada utility customers will never see on their bills, and the $93 million annual figure the utility calculated for a market most households have never heard of

The electricity trade happening a full day before the lights come onMost people picture electricity as something a utility simply generates and sends down the wire. The reality is that utilities across the country buy and sell billions of dollars of power on wholesale energy markets, sometimes hours or days before the electrons ever flow. That real-time market allowed the utility to balance supply and demand across a wider footprint than Nevada alone provides. That comparison mattered: two competing day-ahead market frameworks are emerging across the West, and Nevada had to choose one. Two day-ahead markets are emerging in the West: EDAM and the Southwest Power Pool’s Markets+.