BOSTON – The operator of New England’s power grid is praising a judge’s recommendation that federal regulators take up to three years to create a single multistate electricity market.

ISO New England had proposed that the new wholesale electricity market be implemented over at least 36 months, instead of 24 months, as recommended by the operator of the grid in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.

On Monday, an administrative judge appointed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission backed the longer timeframe.

ISO New England said that would ensure sufficient time to plan and implement systems for the new electricity market, which will comprise 11 Northeast states and the District of Columbia in the largest single electric power market in the world.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission now is considering the report issued Monday by administrative law Judge H. Peter Young, and a timetable has not yet been set on creating the new market.

FERC believes that creating a single market from Maryland to New England will allow electricity to flow seamlessly between states, eliminating transmission bottlenecks and power shortages that result in blackouts and other problems.

Still to be determined is how the regions will be represented on the board that oversees the new market. ISO New England and New York ISO are pushing for representation equal to that of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland grid operator.

But the operator of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland grid supports a plan to base representation on electricity demand, which would give it five seats, New York three seats, and New England two seats.