In December 2001, Carrie Simpson sat at her desk on the trading floor of Enron confused, disenchanted, and unsure of what would happen next. A recent college graduate and brand-new power trading analyst at the company, she could barely wrap her head around the news that the power trading giant had just filed for bankruptcy. 

So she left the world of electricity and became a teacher at her hometown high school just outside of Houston. But she knew she didn’t want to be a teacher for the rest of her life. 

In 2007 Carrie went back to the power sector, and since then has developed deep expertise in the arena of organized electricity markets. Today, as vice president of markets at Southwest Power Pool, she is helping implement SPP’s newest offering to the utilities of the American West: Markets+. 

This week on With Great Power, Carrie explains why utilities in the West are finally ready for more organized power markets; and how Markets+ was designed and is being implemented today. 

With Great Power is a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios.

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Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Grid X production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.