Settlement Would Set "Interim" Amount For Bypassable SOS Administrative Adjustment at BGE, Defer Further Adjudication To Phase II Of Proceeding

October 28, 2019

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Copyright 2010-19 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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A settlement among several parties in Baltimore Gas & Electric's rate case, which does not include retail suppliers as signatories, would establish an "interim" level for the bypassable electricity SOS Administrative Adjustment, while deferring further consideration of the issue to a second phase of the proceeding

The settlement would establish interim non-precedential SOS Administrative Adjustment rates at the levels shown below, pending possible further adjustment as a result of the Phase II proceeding

Settlement Interim SOS Administrative 
Adjustment Rates By SOS Class

            mills per kWh
Residential      0.65
Type I           0.56
Type II          0.14
Hourly           0.11

Any amounts collected through the interim SOS Administrative Adjustment rates will be returned to electric distribution customers through Rider 10 of BGE's Retail Electric Service Tariff.

Currently, the SOS Administrative Adjustment component is 0¢/kWh, as set in a prior Commission order As exclusively first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com, BGE has proposed to set the bypassable SOS Administrative Adjustment at 1.00 mill per kWh, for all of BGE’s SOS customer classes

PSC Staff has proposed setting the SOS Administrative Adjustment at 1.46 mills per kWh for residential customers and 1.25 mills per kWh for Type I customers, with the amount less than 0.5 mills per kWh for other SOS classes (see story here)

A coalition of retail suppliers has recommended setting the SOS Administrative Adjustment at 11.82 mills per kWh for residential customers and 21.06 mills per kWh for all non-residential customers

The settlement provides that an appropriate SOS Administrative Adjustment will be addressed in the Phase II proceeding.

Under the settlement, any party desiring to participate in Phase II may raise any issues they believe appropriate in the Phase II proceeding relating to the allocation of costs for commodity service support to the appropriate cost-causing parties.

All testimony on the SOS Administrative Adjustment that has already been filed in this proceeding will be considered as having been filed in Phase II of this proceeding. Discovery undertaken in Phase I can be used in Phase II.

Under the settlement, additional discovery related to issues to be addressed in the Phase II proceeding will begin on February 15, 2020. PSC Staff, in consultation with the Settling Parties and the Energy Supplier Coalition (ESC), will schedule meetings scheduled in February and March 2020 to discuss the issues in Phase II, as well as the schedule and process for the Phase II proceeding including any revised direct, rebuttal or surrebuttal testimony the parties wish to submit.

The Phase II proceeding shall also include the opportunity to file additional testimony, the ability to conduct further discovery, and an evidentiary hearing followed by post-hearing briefing.

The settling parties will propose to the Commission a procedural schedule to be established for the Phase II proceeding to begin on April 1, 2020, and conclude by December 31, 2020.

Settling parties include Baltimore Gas and Electric, the Staff of the Public Service Commission of Maryland, and the Office of People’s Counsel

The Energy Supplier Coalition does not support the settlement's provision regarding the SOS Administrative Adjustment. The ESC consists of NRG Energy, Inc., Direct Energy Services, LLC, Vistra Energy Corp., and Interstate Gas Supply, Inc. d/b/a IGS Energy

The supplier coalition favors adjudicating the SOS Administrative Adjustment now, as part of consideration of the rest of the rate case and settlement.

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