Almost $40 billion worth of new high-voltage power lines in the central U.S. took a step forward this week as regional grid operators that cover more than two dozen states advanced plans to meet rising electricity demand and enable a transition to cleaner energy.

But the plan is also geared at bolstering reliability in the region by enabling transfers of electricity between states that will help guard against extreme weather — the very type of forward-looking planning that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission envisioned when it adopted its landmark Order 1920 earlier this year.

Patton estimated the plan would cost each family in the Midwest $2,600, and he asked members of MISO’s system planning committee to hold off on approving the plan as scheduled in December and reevaluate the proposed projects.

The projects are projected to deliver economic value equal 1.8 to 3.5 times their cost, including at least $7.2 billion of value from helping decarbonize the grid and at least $14 billion in reliability benefits. MISO has said the estimated benefits are conservative, in part because they look only at the first 20 years the lines are in service, and they’re expected to be useful for decades beyond that.