The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) is Ontario's independent, not-for-profit grid operator, established in 1998 under the province's Electricity Act. It manages Ontario's electricity system around the clock: balancing supply with demand, issuing dispatch instructions to electricity suppliers, directing power across the provincial transmission network, and operating the wholesale electricity market on behalf of ratepayers. Its remit covers the province's entire electricity system and transmission network.
Technical work spans several distinct domains. Operations staff handle power systems dispatch, transmission direction, system reliability, emergency preparedness, power restoration and ancillary services coordination. Planning teams carry out regional and bulk electricity planning, resource forecasting, procurement and transmission recommendations. Other areas include grid innovation as the system becomes increasingly distributed, administration of energy-efficiency programs for homes, businesses and industry, and the publication of market, demand, supply and price data.
Engineering and technology roles are likely to draw on domains such as electricity grid operations and balancing, wholesale market operations, resource forecasting, and data publishing. The organisation works across the residential, commercial and industrial energy sectors, and states a mandate focused on reliability, affordability and sustainability for ratepayers.
