• Provide an adequate level of reliability for the North American bulk power systems — the standards are complete and the requirements are set at an appropriate level to ensure reliability.
• Ensure they are enforceable as mandatory reliability standards with financial penalties — the applicability to bulk power system owners, operators, and users, and as appropriate particular classes of facilities, is clearly defined; the purpose, requirements, and measures are results-focused and unambiguous; the consequences of violating the requirements are clear.
• Incorporate other general improvements described in the standards development work plan (see attachments).
• Consider stakeholder comments received during the initial development of the standards and other comments received from ERO regulatory authorities as noted in the attached review sheets.
• Satisfy the standards procedure requirement for five-year review of the standards.

As the electric reliability organization begins enforcing compliance with reliability standards under Section 215 of the Federal Power Act in the United States and applicable statutes and regulations in Canada , the industry needs a set of clear, measurable, and enforceable reliability standards.  The Version 0 standards and the translation of Phase III & IV planning measures, while a good foundation, were translated from historical operating and planning policies and guides that were appropriate in an era of voluntary compliance.  The Version 0 standards, Phase III & IV standards, and recent updates were put in place as a temporary starting point to start up the electric reliability organization and begin enforcement of mandatory standards.  However, it is important to update the standards in a timely manner, incorporating improvements to make the standards more suitable for enforcement and to capture prior recommendations that were deferred during the Version 0 and Phase III & IV translations.  The two standards in this set are both Version 0 standards.