The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) was formed on April 18, 2002, from the merger of the Western Systems Coordinating Council (WSCC) which itself was formed on August 14, 1967, the Southwest Regional Transmission Association (SWRTA), and Western Regional Transmission Association (WRTA). WECC is one of nine regional electric reliability councils under North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) authority. NERC and the regional reliability councils were formed following the Northeast Blackout of 1965. WECC's general offices are located in Salt Lake City, Utah, with branch offices based in Vancouver, Washington and Loveland, Colorado.
The WECC region encompassess the entire Western Interconnection, which comprises the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, portions of Montana, South Dakota, New Mexico and Texas in the United States, the Provinces of British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, and a portion of CFE's system in Baja California in Mexico. The Western Interconnection is tied to the Eastern Interconnection through six high-voltage direct current transmission facilities, and also has ties to non-NERC systems in Northwestern Canada and the rest of the CFE system in Northwestern Mexico.