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National Grid Seeks Extension To Comply with New York Moratorium on ESCO Service to Low-Income Customers

August 22, 2016

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Copyright 2010-16 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

Niagara Mohawk, KeySpan New York, and KeySpan long Island sought an extension of time to comply with certain of the requirements stated in the New York PSC's July 15 order prohibiting ESCO service to assistance program participant (APP) customers in the manner prescribed by the PSC, but proposed to implement the moratorium manually in the interim.

Ordering clause No. 1 of the July 15 order directs the utilities, including National Grid, to begin placing a block on all affordability assistance program participant (APP) accounts, preventing those accounts from being enrolled with an energy service company (ESCO), within 60 days of the effective date of the Order.

National Grid noted that the term "block" is not defined within the Uniform Business Practices governing interactions between utilities and ESCOs. Notwithstanding, National Grid intends to comply with this requirement by developing new electronic data interchange (EDI) and billing system functionality that, once implemented, would have the ability to automatically reject APP customer enrollments with an ESCO.

The order directs utilities to begin rejecting APP enrollments with ESCOs through an EDI transaction beginning 60 days after the effective date of the order (i.e., on or before September 13, 2016). Compliance with the requirement for an automated EDI Rejection will require the development of new EDI functionality and changes to National Grid’s CRIS and CSS billing systems. Given the need to develop and implement new EDI functionality, perform necessary modifications of two separate billing systems (CRIS and CSS), and perform required testing prior to implementation, National Grid respectfully submits that the automated EDI Rejection Grid will require an additional 90 days to implement (i.e., extending the deadline for EDI Rejections to December 12, 2016), National Grid said

During the interim period between the sixty-day deadline contemplated in the order and National Grid's proposed extended deadline of December 12, 2016, National Grid believes a manual process could be implemented to void ESCO enrollments with APP customers not eligible for enrollment. This ad hoc manual process would continue until automated EDI Rejections are implemented, resulting in a consistent customer experience, National Grid said. National Grid believes that the interim manual process would provide essentially the same protection for APP customers as the automated process.

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