Update:  On December 12, 2012, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (Commission) initiated an investigation into Ohio’s retail electricity market in order to establish certain actions that the Commission can take to enhance the health, strength, and vitality of the market as it presently stands.  In the course of the investigation, the Commission sought comments from stakeholders regarding the extent to which barriers may prevent consumers from choosing retail electric service that best meets their needs.  The Commission also hosted a series of workshops to assist its staff (Staff) in developing a market development work plan to identify policies and potential changes that the Commission can adopt to promote the further development of Ohio’s retail electric service market.

On January 16, 2014, Staff issued its Development Work Plan (Plan).  Plan recommendations, organized by topic, are summarized herein.  The Commission has ordered interested parties to submit comments on the Plan proposals by February 6, 2014.  Reply comments will further be due on February 20, 2014.

Plan Recommendations (by issue):

Standardizing the Retail Electric Service Market: 

Staff believes that in order to enhance the market, efforts must be taken to standardize the practices, processes, and market rules of the various EDUs in Ohio.  Staff recommends that the Commission consider consistency impacts across the state when implementing policies.

Ohio Retail Electric Service Market Definition and Measurements: 

Staff contends that in the Ohio retail electric service market, effective competition would be defined as having

(a) participation in the market by multiple sellers so that an individual seller is not able to influence significantly the market price of the commodity;

(b) participation in the market by informed buyers;

(c) a lack of substantial barriers to supplier entry into and exit from the market;

(d) a lack of substantial barriers that may discourage customer participation in the market; and

(e) sellers offering buyers a variety of competitive retail electric services.

Staff further recommends that the following criteria be adopted as reasonable indicators of the health of the competitive retail electric service market:

1. Number of PUCO certified CRES providers in the State of Ohio.

2. Number of PUCO certified CRES providers by EDU service territory.

3. Number of active CRES providers by EDU service territory.

4. Number of customers shopping by class, by EDU service territory.

5. Percentage of load shopping by class, by EDU service territory.

6. All EDUs in Ohio have structural separation.

7. 100% of the SSO load is procured via a competitive process for all EDUs in Ohio.

8. Customers are engaged and informed about the products and services that they receive.

Confidentiality of Supplier Information:

Staff contends that in any effort to create an effective and competitive retail electric service market, it is imperative that the public trust the market and know that information is available and accurate; therefore, the Commission must strive for transparency within the retail electric service market.  Staff recommends that the number of customers served and load in MWh for each CRES in each EDUs service territory should not be confidential because this type of information is not confidential in other industries.

Corporate Separation

Staff believes it is imperative that utility and its affiliate activities should be vigilantly monitored to ensure compliance with section 4928.17, O.R.C. and Chapter 4901:1-37,

O.A.C.  Furthermore, alignment of cost causation with cost recovery is important in order to further Ohio’s policy goals pursuant to Section 4928.02, O.R.C.  That being said, Staff recommends that no further Commission action pertaining to the requirement for electric utilities to fully divest generation and supplier functions from transmission and distribution entities, maintaining their own shareholders and therefore, operating completely separate from affiliate structure is necessary at this time. Staff believes that corporate separation can be achieved through structural separation with an affiliate with sufficient monitoring and structural safeguards.  Staff recommends that each utility’s  policy and procedures pertaining to compliance with the Code of Conduct rules between affiliates be audited at a minimum, every four years by the Staff of the Commission or by a third party auditor chosen by the Commission and under the direction of Staff.

Standard Service Offer as the Default Service

Staff recommends that the SSO remain as the default service.

Purchase of Receivables

Purchase of Receivables (POR) programs are designed so that a CRES provider’s receivables (with consolidated billing from an EDU) are purchased and become the debt of the utility; therefore, collection responsibility of such debt becomes that of the utility.  Staff believes that a POR program would resolve the CRES providers’ inability to efficiently and effectively process its bad-debt collections, which will eliminate a market barrier and result in an increase in the number of active suppliers, a diversity of the suppliers, and an increase in the number of products available in the market.  Furthermore, Staff believes that a POR will reduce customer confusion in that it would eliminate multiple entities attempting to collect on overdue supplier and EDU accounts, eliminate the posting of charges from more than one supplier if a customer elects to switch, and will alleviate confusion when partial payment allocation is applicable.  Staff recommends that the Commission order all electric utilities that currently do not offer a POR program to file an application within one year of the Commission Order in this proceeding to implement a POR program.

Electronic Data Interchange

Staff recommends that an electronic data interchange (EDI) policy working group be formed. The working group will be facilitated by Staff and made up of utility and supplier representatives and at least one representative from the Ohio EDI Working Group. The main objective of the group should be to prioritize EDI change requests and recommend EDI changes.

Seamless Moves / Contract Portability

Staff recommends that the Commission order the Ohio EDI Working Group to provide, within six months of the Order, an operational plan to put a seamless move process into effect.

Bill Format

Staff recommends the following in regard to bill formatting and changes:

• Each EDU should file an application for bill format changes within six months of this Order to account for the bill changes below.
• EDUs adjust their bill language to reference “supply” and “delivery” charges (supply charges refer to all by-passable charges or supplier billed charges; delivery charges refer to all non-by-passable charges and cost associated with distribution and if applicable, transmission charges)
• EDUs adjust bills to distinguish supply charges from delivery charges in a separate, defined section of the bill; supply charges should also be separated from delivery in the same manner for customers served by the SSO or a CRES provider
• The EDUs include on its bills the supplier’s logo in the area containing the “supply” charges of the bill; all CRES providers shall be required to include their logo on the bills
• All EDUs’ price-to-compare calculations should be standardized; the price-to-compare should be calculated by dividing the dollar amount of the current month’s bill that could be avoided with switching by the number of KWh used that month
• The price-to-compare language be slightly modified to accurately describe that it is the utility price that is being compared, i.e.:

“Price-to-Compare: In order for you to save money off of your utility’s supply charges, a supplier must offer you a price lower than (utility name)’s price of X.XX cents per kWh for the same usage that appears on this bill. To review available competitive supplier offers, visit the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio’s “Energy Choice Ohio” website at www.yy-xx.com.”

• Staff also recommends that the above bill format changes be applied in the natural gas retail sector

Customer Enrollment

Staff recommends that each EDU be required to submit a proposal to Staff within three months of the Commission’s Order in this case on how they will allow customers to register without an account number in order to access their account information online, while ensuring customer protections.

Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)

For CRES providers, customer energy usage data (CEUD) from AMI should enable services that are functionally equivalent to, or substitutes for, traditional electric services.  For customers, the data enabled services should provide the opportunity to

save money by providing price incentives that encourage shifting consumption to off-peak periods, and by increasing customer awareness of their consumption patterns.

Customer Information

On customer information for AMI and related issues. Staff defers to those rules set out in the Electric Service and Safety Standards (Case No. 12-2050-EL-ORD) and Rules for Competitive Retail Electric Service (Case No. 12-1924-EL-ORD). Staff believes that the customers should be the owners of their own customer energy usage data and the rule modifications provide the appropriate framework for electric utility companies, and designated third parties, to act as data custodians for the customer.

Data Access and Time-Differentiated Rates

In order to facilitate the investigation into costs, Staff recommends the Commission require utilities who have deployed AMI to all or a significant number of its customers, to file amendments to their supplier tariffs, which specify the terms, conditions and charges associated with providing interval customer energy usage data.

Multi-State Standardization Collaborative

Staff recommends that the Ohio Commission work with other states whose Commissioners participate in Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners (MACRUC)-sponsored activities, and form an official committee to focus on improvements to the retail electric service market in MACRUC states, as well as standardizing the region with best practices