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NEM Seeks Extension For Compliance Deadline For Revised New York Uniform Business Practices

NEM Says UBP Revision Order Uses Older Definition Of Small Non-Residential Customer, Requires Clarification

February 12, 2018

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

The National Energy Marketers Association (NEM) submitted a filing at the New York PSC to request a ninety-day extension for ESCO compliance with certain requirements in the Commission’s Order Adopting Revised Uniform Business Practices in the above-referenced proceeding issued on January 19, 2018.

The Order requires ESCO compliance with the revised UBP requirements thirty days from the effective date of the Order.

"NEM submits that a ninety-day extension for ESCO compliance with certain of the new UBP requirements is justified given the significant nature of these changes, the resources that will be required to implement the changes, as well as uncertainty regarding certain terms in the Order that will require Commission clarification in order to ensure ESCO compliance," NEM said

NEM requests an extension for ESCO compliance with respect to:

1) Amendments to UBP Section 5.L.2. regarding voluntary budget billing and levelized payment plans;

2) The extension of TPV requirements to the enrollment of small non-residential customers resulting from door-to-door sales, telephonic enrollment and scheduled appointments under the revision to UBP Section 5.B.2.; and

3) Changes to the information to be displayed on the badges of ESCO marketing representatives under the revisions to UBP Sections 10.C.1.b.1. and 10.C.1.d.

As previously reported, the PSC Secretary recently denied a requested extension filed by another party as unsupported, but said that requests with more specific information in order to demonstrate why additional time is necessary in order to comply with the PSC's directives would be considered.

NEM provided further support for its request as follows:

1) Budget Billing Requirements

NEM said that, "Amendments to UBP Section 5.L.2. were adopted regarding voluntary ESCO budget billing and levelized payment plans. The ESCO community has been actively investigating the operational changes that will be required including what protocols will change and how it will affect processes already in place. An extension of time for compliance will aid ESCOs in understanding the scope of changes associated with amended UBP Section 5.L.2."

"Specifically, the amended language in UBP Section 5.L.2. requires ESCOs to offer voluntary budget billing under which the ESCO 'is responsible for determining the budget bill amount and must evaluate each budget billed account on a quarterly basis for conformity with actual billing.' Currently, there are no EDI transaction sets for Rate Ready billing that would support this quarterly requirement, nor do the Rate Ready-based utilities have the systems in place to support ESCOs intervention into the budget billing process. In other words, ESCOs are not provided with the requisite data from the utilities about the customer’s budget bill amount for the supply portion of the bill to perform the newly-required quarterly evaluation. To date, Rate Ready utilities have handled budget billing on behalf of ESCOs and their customers using their own budget billing protocols," NEM said

"UBP Section 5.L.2. would also require voluntary ESCO budget billing plans to 'provide that bills clearly identify consumption and state the amounts that would be due without levelized or budget billing.' Currently, there are no EDI transactions with the Rate Ready utilities that would support providing that information," NEM said

"Implementation of the changes required under UBP Section 5.L.2. will require significant stakeholder time and resources to evaluate and accomplish, including development of EDI transactions and billing processes. Additionally, it is unclear whether utilities have the space available on the consolidated bill to include this information. For these reasons, NEM submits that a ninety-day extension for ESCO compliance is reasonable," NEM said

2) Definition of Small Non-Residential Customer and Associated TPV Requirements

"NEM has also identified certain language in the Order that will require Commission clarification in order to ensure ESCO compliance. For instance, the Order and corresponding UBP Section 5.B.2. apply a third-party verification requirement to sales to residential and small non-residential customers resulting from door-to-door solicitations, telephonic marketing or scheduled appointments. However, the definition of 'small non-residential customer' included in footnote 4 of the Order references the definition in a 2014 Order. The definition in the 2014 Order was subject to Petitions for Rehearing or Clarification, stayed by the Commission and then ultimately withdrawn from the UBP in 2015. The 2016 Reset Order then adopted a definition of 'small non-residential customer' that differed from the 2014 Order with respect to natural gas customers but the 2016 Order was subsequently vacated and remitted to the Commission for further proceedings. The reference in footnote 4 in the instant Order to the previously withdrawn definition of small non-residential customer was not re-noticed for comment and unexpected," NEM said

Footnote 1 of the 2014 Order states that, "For the purposes of this Order, a 'small non-residential customer' means an electricity customer in a utility service classification that does not have a demand rate element, and/or a natural gas customer in a service classification that provides firm service."

In contrast, the 2016 Order states that, "[S]mall non-residential customers are defined as either a non-demand metered electric customer or a non-residential gas customer with annual gas consumption that does not exceed 750 dekatherms per year or the equivalent."

"Moreover, the 2014 Order definition would present a specific problem for ESCO compliance with respect to small non-residential natural gas customers because of its broad reference to 'a natural gas customer in a service classification that provides firm service.' In practice, the ESCO is not able to ascertain by EDI transaction whether a customer is firm or non-firm, and therefore subject to the TPV requirement, prior to submitting an enrollment. A clarification of the Order to incorporate a usage amount to define a small non-residential natural gas customer would resolve that problem because the usage information is obtainable by the ESCO via EDI prior to when the TPV would be performed. But in the meantime, compliance with the TPV requirement under the definition of small non-residential natural gas customer referenced in the Order is problematic," NEM said

3) Badge Requirements

"NEM has also found an inconsistency in the language of the Order with that adopted in the UBP Sections 10.C.1.b.1. and 10.C.1.d. regarding the information required to be displayed on the badges of ESCO marketing representatives. The language adopted in UBP Sections 10.C.1.b.1. and 10.C.1.d. accurately reflect the change as originally proposed in a petition to the Commission and subsequently described in the Commission Notice, to remove the representative’s full name from the badge, and include only the representative’s first name and employee identification number. However, the Order at page 16 incorrectly characterizes the original proposal saying it would 'eliminate the marketing representative’s first name' (emphasis added [by NEM]) therefore implying the last name would be displayed and then states that the Commission adopts the recommendation. Clarification of the inconsistency in the language of the Order and that used in UBP Sections 10.C.1.b.1. and 10.C.1.d. is needed to avoid confusion and ensure ESCO compliance," NEM said

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