MISO Membership

CFU has been a member of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) since 2009. MISO operates the regional electric system serving the Midwest across 15 U.S. states and Canada including the state of Iowa. MISO monitors the electric grid and directs the operation of electric generating plants and the transmission of electricity to utilities. 

Think of the MISO energy market like a giant pool. Members like CFU generate energy that flows in every day. The energy generated by nearly all of the wind turbines fossil fuel and nuclear plants across the region flow into MISO's power market daily. Members also purchase energy out of the pool to meet their communities' daily electric needs. MISO is the organization in charge of managing the balance of supply and demand of the energy "pool" to ensure efficiency and reliability.

Belonging to the MISO regional power grid which is energized by many power generation facilities provides a tremendous reliability benefit to Cedar Falls. If Cedar Falls was isolated from the grid we would be relying only on our local generation and reliability would suffer greatly. CFU customers have benefited significantly from the reliability and lower rates that come with MISO membership.

CFU can choose daily whether to run our local Streeter Station power plant and natural gas turbines or if it is more cost effective for customers to purchase all electricity needed from other generating plants through the market. Generation from other sources also allows our local equipment to be down for maintenance without interrupting the power supply.