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New York Staff: ConEd Should "Plan" For Hourly Pricing Expansion; Staff Recommends Hold-Harmless TOU Commodity Rates Be Offered by Utility Staff of the New York PSC have recommended that Consolidated Edison should "plan" for the expansion of mandatory hourly pricing (MHP) below the current 500 kW threshold, but did not recommend any immediate changes, in testimony in ConEd's current rate case.
Staff said that ConEd is seeking a one-year rate plan, and noted that ConEd is continuing to implement reactive power measurement capabilities. Staff said that mandatory hourly pricing should not be expanded until such reactive power metering installation is complete.
Expansion of hourly pricing, "should be further considered" following the reactive metering project. The reactive metering project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014. The company, "should plan for further expansion of MHP after that," Staff said.
Staff noted that ConEd's current demand threshold for mandatory hourly pricing of 500 kW is higher than all other utilities in the state -- most are at 300 kW and Niagara Mohawk is at 250 kW.
Staff also submitted testimony rebutting a consultant's study submitted in 2012 which had said that mandatory hourly pricing expansion had little impact on customer usage and therefore costs of continued expansion outweighed the benefits (click here for story on the study).
Staff cited "significant flaws" in the consultant study, and said that, "no weight should be given to the ... report's conclusion that MHP customers are not responsive to changes in hourly prices."
Staff also proposed to change how capacity costs are allocated to hourly-priced customers, recommending that the customer's ICAP tag be used.
Story Continues Below...
ADVERTISEMENT Currently, Con Edison charges MHP customers for capacity based on each customer's peak demand level; however, capacity costs are driven by the amount of generating capacity the New York Control Area (NYCA) demands at the peak hour to supply electricity to all customers. Because the capacity cost are driven by needs during the NYCA peak, capacity charges should be based on MHP customers' demand during the NYCA peak; also known as customer's ICAP Tag, Staff said. Adjustments for losses, reserve requirement and weather/growth factors would be made.
Staff recommended that the use of the ICAP Tag for capacity cost allocation begin in May 2015.
Staff supported a proposed Voluntary Time of Use (VTOU) commodity rate program at ConEd, but went further in recommending that this program hold certain customers harmless if electing the rate option, versus what the customer would pay under the standard commodity rate.
Specifically, Staff proposed an introductory price guarantee for the VTOU rate for customers owning or leasing Plug-In Electric Vehicles (PEVs).
"For customers that purchase or lease PEVs, Con Edison should guarantee that, for the first year they take VTOU service, they will not pay more for VTOU rate electric service than they would have paid if they had taken service under the standard SC-1 rate. Under my price guarantee program, the customer would have to stay on the VTOU rate for one year," Staff proposed.
Under this guarantee, if the bill was higher under the VTOU rate than it would have been under standard SC-1 service, Con Edison would refund the difference to the customer, Staff said.
Case 13-E-0030
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June 3, 2013
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Copyright 2010-13 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Karen Abbott • kabbott@energychoicematters.com
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