MRO is one of eight regional entities in North America operating under delegated authority from regulators in the United States and Canada. In their respective regions, each regional entity is responsible for: 1) assessing compliance with reliability standards; 2) providing seasonal and long-term assessments of the bulk power system; and 3) conducting technical analyses of matters impacting bulk power system reliability.

The MRO region covers roughly one million square miles spanning the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the states of North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and the majority of the territory in the states of South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin. The region includes more than 100 organizations that are involved in the production and delivery of power to more than 20 million people. These organizations include municipal utilities, cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, a federal power marketing agency, Canadian Crown Corporations, independent power producers and others who have interests in the reliability of the bulk power system.