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New York PSC Denies Extension Of Effective Date For UBP Changes

February 7, 2018

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Copyright 2010-17 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

The New York PSC denied a request from the Retail Energy Supply Association for a 60-day extension of the effective date of the recently revised Uniform Business Practices ("UBP") requirements

Among other things, the revised Uniform Business Practices now require ESCOs, for residential and small non-residential customers, to conduct, "an independent third party verification," for any sale resulting from a scheduled appointment, in addition to door-to-door and telephonic sales

See our prior story for more on the UBP changes

As previously reported, RESA had, in requesting the extension, noted that there are several internal operational changes that Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) will have to implement in order to comply with the UBP Order, such as implementing and testing new transaction processes and adoption of new or modified document management and/or information technology systems. RESA had stated that the 30-day compliance period set forth in the Order is not sufficient to enable ESCOs to make the changes necessary to meet the new requirements set forth in the UBP amendments. Additionally, RESA had stated that RESA intends to submit a Request for Rehearing of the Order with respect to several of the amendments. RESA had said that it anticipated that, as a consequence of the prospective Request for Rehearing of the Order to the Commission, certain of the obligations will be subject to potential modification.

"Your request for a 60-day extension will not be granted," the PSC's Secretary ruled in a notice.

"While you state that there will be operational changes, such as testing new transaction processes, you have not identified a specific operational issue that any ESCO will encounter nor explained why these operational changes will require an additional 60 days to remedy. Given that you explicitly state that the comments expressed in this filing represent the position of the RESA as an organization but may not represent the views of any particular member of RESA and, further, that RESA, as an organization, is not an ESCO 'eligible to operate in New York [that is] directed to comply with the revised Uniform Business Practices' (Ordering Clause 1), it would have behooved RESA to include specific operational issues for any of its members with an explanation for the additional time requested in order to justify this extension request," the Secretary said in the ruling

"While filing a Petition for Rehearing may be a basis to request an extension to comply with the Commission's Order, it is not in this instance for the reasons stated above. Speculation that the Commission's Order may change is not a basis for an extension of the requirements set forth in the Order in the absence of other information discussing the burden imposed upon the Petitioner in complying with the Order," the Secretary said in the ruling

"Based upon the information you have provided, this is to advise that your request for an extension is not granted. The Retail Energy Supply Association may augment this request with more specific information in order to demonstrate why additional time is necessary in order to comply with the directives set forth in the Commission's Order," the Secretary said in the ruling

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