PUC Rules On Utilities' Requested Waivers Concerning Billing Non-Commodity Services On Utility Bills, Retail Supplier Bill Access -- EnergyChoiceMatters.com

PUC Rules On Utilities' Requested Waivers Concerning Billing Non-Commodity Services On Utility Bills, Retail Supplier Bill Access

May 18 2022

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Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has issued orders concerning requests filed by several utilities which had sought certain waivers from the recently implemented rule which prohibits utilities from billing their own, or an affiliate's or preferred third party's, non-jurisdictional (non-commodity) services on the utility bill, unless the utility makes such billing service available to competitive retail suppliers on a non discriminatory basis (Ohio Adm.Code 4901:1-10-33(A))

Specifically, the now-effective rule revisions state that, "[a]n electric utility cannot discriminate or unduly restrict a customer’s CRES provider from including non-jurisdictional charges on a consolidated electric bill".

Retail suppliers had argued that the rule contains two prohibitions (1) an EDU may not discriminate in the placement of non-jurisdictional charges of a customer’s competitive supplier on a consolidated bill; (2) an EDU cannot unreasonably "restrict" access to that bill.

Given this putative prohibition on unreasonable restrictions on bill access, retail suppliers argued that utilities cannot comply with the rule simply by terminating the billing of non-jurisdictional services on the utility bill for all entities, including affiliates or utility partner providers, and that utilities must justify any prohibition on the billing of retail supplier non-jurisdictional charges as reasonable. Declining to bill retail supplier non-jurisdictional charges simply because the utility decides to not bill any non-jurisdictional charges any longer (due to the new rule) is not a reasonable restriction, retail suppliers said

However, PUCO disagreed with retail suppliers' interpretation

PUCO held that utilities may comply with the rule by not billing for the non-jurisdictional charges of any party

In a case concerning Duke Energy Ohio, PUCO said, "Duke’s proposed approach, not allowing any non-jurisdictional charges on the consolidated bill, including those of an affiliate, is permissible under the rule amendment, as it prevents the scenario described above [an EDU billing only for an affiliate], which was the impetus of the amendment."

PUCO emphasized that it had said in its original order that the rule, "does not force the EDU to place the customer’s CRES provider’s non-jurisdictional service on the consolidated bill."

PUCO granted Duke Energy Ohio its amended request for a 9-month waiver of the rule, from the date the waiver is granted, as Duke had stated that such time was needed due to the transition to its new customer information system and also due to the technical requirements of implementation

PUCO denied as moot a request from the FirstEnergy utilities for a six-month waiver to allow for implementation, since six months has passed since the request. The FirstEnergy utilities are also complying by removing all non-jurisdictional charges from the utility bill

As previously reported, AEP Ohio is electing to comply with the rule by allowing retail suppliers to bill non-jurisdictional charges on the utility bill.

PUCO granted AEP Ohio an 18-month waiver, effective as of the date of the waiver order, to complete system changes necessary to implement this functionality.

AEP Ohio is requiring that jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional CRES provider charges be listed separately on the bill. Retail suppliers will not be able to combine jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional services for billing as a single item (see more background on AEP Ohio's specific implementation here)

PUCO noted that updates required by AEP Ohio's implementation include requiring CRES providers to itemize billing charges, and code to ensure that the payment priority rules under Ohio Adm.Code 4901:1-10-33(H)(1) are properly followed such that customers are not improperly disconnected from utility service for failure to pay non-jurisdictional service, as required under Ohio Adm.Code 4901:1-18-03

Cases 21-1100-EL-WVR, 21-1125-EL-WVR, 21-1209-EL-WVR

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