Cheap, wind-rich, and genuinely open, with room to build. It ranks below the biggest US hubs mainly because less large-load demand has shown up here yet. An underrated emerging destination.
See live grid data →Why: FERC's 18 June 2026 Section 206 show-cause order directs SPP to justify or reform its large-load rules; SPP's relatively uncongested, low-cost footprint and active courting of new load make it one of the more open US responses.
What would change the read: SPP's Section 206 filing locking in a fast, transparent large-load connection pathway before demand outpaces the grid.
Open, connect-and-manage-leaning access with an ERAS fast-track.
Good availability on a strong wind base with room to grow.
Among the cheapest US power.
Moderate momentum: emerging (Oklahoma, Kansas).
Carbon moderate (~290 g), wind-heavy but still some fossil.
Ordered rolling blackouts during Winter Storm Uri (Feb 2021), its first-ever region-wide firm load shed, when extreme cold knocked out generation.
What this means: A large new load should expect genuine exposure to forced power cuts (curtailment), price spikes, and delays in getting connected, and should design in backup power or firm supply contracts.
event-based · FERC/NERC Feb 2021 cold weather final report
Average customer interruption (SAIDI) of 104.32 minutes per year in 2024, excluding major event days as filed.
The market figure above is an average across these territories. A project sits in one of them, not in the average. Each row is that operator’s own filed record; once a candidate site is matched to a territory, that row is the evidence that applies to it.
| Territory operator | SAIDI min/yr | Customers | Major-event method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co (OK) | 98.42 | 833,706 | own method |
| Public Service Co of Oklahoma (OK) | 116.7 | 579,031 | IEEE 1366 |
| Omaha Public Power District (NE) | 85.7 | 403,157 | IEEE 1366 |
| Evergy Kansas Central, Inc (KS) | 101.58 | 392,397 | IEEE 1366 |
| Evergy Missouri West (MO) | 118.82 | 346,863 | IEEE 1366 |
| Evergy Kansas South, Inc (KS) | 87.12 | 344,853 | IEEE 1366 |
| Evergy Metro (MO) | 103.93 | 311,001 | IEEE 1366 |
| Evergy Metro (KS) | 61.15 | 285,403 | IEEE 1366 |
| Southwestern Public Service Co (TX) | 116.21 | 268,277 | IEEE 1366 |
| Southwestern Electric Power Co (TX) | 234.8 | 192,067 | IEEE 1366 |
| Empire District Electric Co (MO) | 141.48 | 166,833 | IEEE 1366 |
| Lincoln Electric System (NE) | 19.3 | 151,839 | IEEE 1366 |
| City Utilities of Springfield - (MO) (MO) | 65.33 | 121,822 | IEEE 1366 |
| Southwestern Public Service Co (NM) | 135.46 | 118,975 | IEEE 1366 |
| Nebraska Public Power District (NE) | 74.35 | 93,975 | IEEE 1366 |
| Mountrail-Williams Elec Coop (ND) | 146.81 | 19,103 | IEEE 1366 |
| McKenzie Electric Coop Inc (ND) | 209.74 | 13,546 | IEEE 1366 |
| Empire District Electric Co (KS) | 89.51 | 10,232 | IEEE 1366 |
| Empire District Electric Co (OK) | 88.35 | 5,928 | IEEE 1366 |
| Grand River Dam Authority (OK) | 29.92 | 213 | own method |
Filed to EIA Form 861 for 2024, excluding major event days. Territory-wide averages: see the layer note above for what they do not establish.
NERC's 2024 assessment rates SPP elevated-risk as demand grows against a changing resource mix.
What this means: A large new load faces occasional exposure here. Monitor conditions and keep a contingency plan.
assessed · NERC 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment
We have not compiled what firm service actually promises here: whether it is firm, non-firm or interruptible, the conditions under which you can be curtailed, the redundancy required of you, and the transfer time behind any N-1 commitment. Treat this as an open diligence item, not as an indication that service is firm.
Utility feeds, UPS, storage, on-site generation, islanding, black start and the residual energy you still expect to lose are properties of a specific site design, not of a market. This layer only exists once there is a site, and we never assert it for you.
What this means: The supply crunch looks likely to ease for a new load energizing here in the coming years.
The average customer loses about 104.32 minutes of power per year (2024). This is the standard regulator outage measure (SAIDI); lower means a more reliable grid.
Averaged across 20 territories. No single customer experiences this figure. The per-territory table in the reliability overlay above gives each operator’s own filed record, which is what a site-specific read needs.
171 GW
50 months
The full queue analysis for this market, which covers the share of projects that give up and leave the queue (the withdrawal rate), how much of the queue is data centers, and the sources, is available through /api/v1/queue/spp with a paid key. These are generation and storage queue figures: they show interconnection-system congestion, not a typical large-load connection wait.
$42 to $68 per MWh
Midpoint about $54 per MWh
The Southwest Power Pool has some of the cheapest wholesale energy in the country, wind-driven and low. The main non-energy cost is transmission, high per MWh because of the region's heavy grid build-out for wind.
This market's band is free here; the ranked cross-market table with every market's precise midpoint is the Analyst Desk. See the ranked view.
Basis: triangulated from public sources, in US dollars per MWh delivered to a large high-load-factor load, excluding refundable taxes. Sources: SPP 2024 State of the Market · Wholesale electricity prices (EIA).
100 MW contracted demand, 95% load factor, HV servicecalculated
A load of this shape consumes 832,200 MWh a year. At the delivered band of $42 to $68/MWh that is $34,952,400 to $56,589,600 a year in recurring power.
Wholesale energy is 56% of the delivered rate here; the other $24/MWh is capacity, network, demand and levies. See the full build-up.
Recurring charges only. Customer-funded connection, substation and network-upgrade capital is quoted per project by the network operator and is not in this figure. A load factor materially below 95% raises the delivered rate per MWh, because demand and network charges are levied per MW; screen your own load to see whether the band still applies.
High
2 of 3 data layers measured
Full
3 of 3 dimensions: reliability, connection, cost
June 2026
per-layer vintages below
| Layer | Method | Vintage | Freshness | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PGIQ Rating opinion | opinion | June 2026 | Current | PGIQ methodology |
| Reliability | measured | 2024 | Fresh | EIA Form 861, Schedules 3B and 3C (annual electric power industry report) (two major-event methods, IEEE; respondent-defined, customer-weighted blend of 20 of 20 territories, 100% of customers, regional context only) |
| Interconnection queue | measured | end-2025 (LBNL 2026) | Fresh | LBNL Queued Up 2026 |
| Realized cost | triangulated | 2026 | Fresh | SPP 2024 State of the Market |
Freshness reflects each layer's refresh cadence: reliability annual to three-yearly, capacity-auction and queue yearly, tariffs every year or two. The full cross-market freshness dashboard is at /data-quality.
Territories in this market, each with its own filed record: Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co, Public Service Co of Oklahoma, Omaha Public Power District, Evergy Kansas Central, Inc, Evergy Missouri West, Evergy Kansas South, Inc, Evergy Metro, Evergy Metro. Which one serves a given site depends on where that site is.
How the connection process is organised: the applicable service and connection entities depend on the candidate location and the power pathway. We have not compiled the structure for this market; that is a gap in our wayfinding, not a fact about the market.
The real-world events that test our Tier 2 call for SPP (Southwest Power Pool): 1 challenges it. Each is dated and cited, so you can check the rating against what is actually happening on the ground.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced on 12 Aug 2026 that DOE will not designate the Lake Erie-Canada, Southwestern Grid Connector or Tribal Energy Access corridors, the three National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors carried forward from Dec 2024. The areas cover parts of Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. None had been designated, so no existing federal backstop siting authority is withdrawn, but the route to one closes. The Federal Power Act still lets a future secretary restart the process.
How SPP (Southwest Power Pool)'s reliability-adjusted score and tier have moved, month by month. Part of your Analyst Desk.
Every field above carries its own source and freshness. Price, imports and exports are modelled in every market because no feed supplies them. Carbon intensity is derived from the fuel mix.
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