Brigham City Council approves amended UAMS pooling agreement to prepare members for EDAM market

Brigham City Council on Feb. 19 approved an amended and restated pooling agreement with the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMS) that officials say is needed to participate in the West’s new Extended Day Ahead Market (EDAM), which goes live May 1, 2026.

Mason Baker, chief executive officer of UAMS, told the council the agreement updates a 40-year-old framework to reflect a centralized wholesale market and to codify a cost-causation principle that assigns costs to the members that cause them. “It starts 05/01/2026,” Baker said, explaining the market timetable and why the changes are necessary.

The agreement obligates UAMS to prepare an annual purchase plan that will forecast members’ loads and allocate resource responsibilities, and it sets out a resource sufficiency obligation requiring members to demonstrate adequate hourly resources. Baker warned the council that the new market structure creates new settlement and metering challenges when members trade power among themselves, and that penalties can apply to members who are “too short.”

Council members pressed UAMS staff on operational details, including whether member-to-member trades could continue, how metering and after-the-fact settlement would work and how transmission congestion would be treated. Baker and Jackie Toombs of UAMS said many mechanics remain under active work during parallel operations and that UAMS is forming an advisory committee to iron out implementation issues before May 1.

Before voting, council members discussed naming a local representative to the project-management committee. The council approved the agreement by voice vote and moved to amend the agreement’s representative names to reflect recent staffing and consultant arrangements, appointing Kevin Garlic as the principal representative with Tyler Pugsley and Derek Goyler as alternates.

The council’s motion carried by voice vote with no opposition recorded on the public audio. The agreement includes a five-year notice-to-terminate provision, audit rights and new governance procedures for project oversight; UAMS staff said they plan a thorough audit and reconciliation after the first year of EDAM operations to verify cost allocations.

Next steps: UAMS and member cities will continue parallel operations and test-billing exercises through the spring; the pooling agreement is scheduled to take effect May 1, 2026, when EDAM goes live.