Officials say EDAM launch is working; lawmakers press governance, savings and consumer protections

CAISO officials told the committee the Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) went live on May 1 and that early operations have been functioning smoothly.

"We went live May 1 and so far, things have been really working quite well," CAISO's president said, adding that early dispatch patterns are rational and that new market products are working as designed. CAISO's board chair told the committee the EIM (energy imbalance market) has yielded roughly "$9,000,000,000 in savings" historically and that early EDAM operation produced about "$11,000,000 in savings just with 2 participants." He said AB825 requires independent governance conditions be certified before tariff changes expand the market and called those consumer protections "deal breakers" if unmet.

Lawmakers asked whether the market's optimization is an opaque "machine" and whether it substitutes for human judgment. CAISO representatives responded the market is a deterministic optimization dispatch ("a mechanical process") and emphasized that state agencies retain planning and procurement roles. Members also sought assurances that regional governance would not undermine California's authority on clean-energy policy; officials said the statutory certification and formation-committee work are meant to preserve state policy control while enabling regional coordination.