New York PSC Denies Rehearing Of Order Ending Waiver Period That Had Allowed ESCO Green Gas Products -- EnergyChoiceMatters.com

New York PSC Denies Rehearing Of Order Ending Waiver Period That Had Allowed ESCO Green Gas Products

Requires Affected Customers To Be Placed On Compliant Products (Or Dropped To SOS), Clarifies Issue Of Affirmative Consent

December 16, 2022

Email This Story
Copyright 2010-21 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

The following story is brought free of charge to readers by EC Infosystems, the exclusive EDI provider of EnergyChoiceMatters.com

The New York PSC denied rehearing of its July 2022 order that had denied waivers to seven specific ESCOs for such suppliers to continue to provide green natural gas products to mass market customers without being subject to the otherwise applicable pricing limits, and set a deadline for such customers to be placed on compliant products, or returned to utility default service

As previously reported, when the PSC in January 2021 adopted various price and product limits for mass market service, the PSC allowed, for a period of one year, those ESCOs which had already been offering a green gas product to continue to serve customers already enrolled on such green gas products, without being subject to the new pricing limits.

The PSC's July 2022 order formally ended these prior waivers that had allowed such continued legacy green gas service. ESCOs had sought rehearing of this July 2022 decision, and the PSC permitted ESCOs to continue serving the affected green gas customers pending a rehearing decision.

The PSC has now denied rehearing

As a result, the PSC directed as follows:

• Notwithstanding any rulings on prior requests for extension, Family Energy, Inc., Green Mountain Energy Company, and American Power & Gas, LLC shall have 60 days from the effective date of this order to transfer any residential and small non-residential customers currently served on a 'green gas' product pursuant to a waiver to either: (1) a product that complies with the Commission’s December 12, 2019 Order Adopting Changes to the Retail Access Energy Market and Establishing Further Process and the Commission’s January 25, 2021 Order Addressing ESCO Petitions Requesting Authorization to Provide Additional Products and Services; or (2) full utility service. Such transfers shall occur upon expiration of the current contract term with the customers and on customers' regularly scheduled meter reading dates, consistent with the discussion in the body of this Order.
• Notwithstanding any rulings on prior requests for extension, Viridian Energy PA, LLC and Kiwi Energy NY LLC shall have 60 days from the effective date of this order to transfer any residential and small non-residential customers currently served on a 'green gas' product pursuant to a waiver to either: (1) a product that complies with the Commission’s December 12, 2019 Order Adopting Changes to the Retail Access Energy Market and Establishing Further Process and the Commission’s January 25, 2021 Order Addressing ESCO Petitions Requesting Authorization to Provide Additional Products and Services; or (2) full utility service. Such transfers shall occur upon expiration of the current contract term with the customers and on customers' regularly scheduled meter reading dates, consistent with the discussion in the body of this Order.

The PSC's order also served to clarify whether ESCOs must obtain affirmative consent to place customers on a compliant product, though the PSC's rehearing order language suggests that the PSC did not believe such clarification was needed (despite the unambiguous language from the PSC's July order which had stated that customers not providing consent must be returned to full utility service, which the PSC has now clarified)

The PSC in its Dec. 16 rehearing order stated: "Consistent with the December 2019 Order and the UBP, ESCOs transitioning customers to a compliant product that differs from their existing product are required to obtain the customer’s affirmative consent to make such a change. However, the Commission has provided an exception to this general rule. Affirmative Consent is not required if the ESCO is changing the customer’s product to one that guarantees saving compared to the distribution utility. The July 2022 Order did not modify this exception, though it also did not explicitly re-state this exception, which is reflected in the UBP."

"Thus, for the avoidance of doubt, the Commission clarifies that the guaranteed savings exception to the requirement that ESCOs obtain affirmative consent when changing a customer’s product remains applicable to ESCOs transitioning customers off 'green gas' products," the PSC said

Also, despite the language from the ordering paragraphs quoted above that ESCOs are provided only "60 days from the effective date of this order to transfer" affected customers, the PSC said in its rehearing order that the additional language in such ordering paragraphs, which states that, "transfers shall occur upon expiration of the current contract term with the customers and on customers," means that the PSC's order, "permits existing ESCO contracts to expire." (despite the explicit 60 days language)

The order, the PSC said, "only requires transfers 'upon expiration of the current contract term with the customers and on customers’ regularly scheduled meter reading dates. . . .'"

In July 2022, the PSC identified approximately 42,000 ESCO gas customers that receive gas supply bundled with a green gas product. The PSC said that this amounts to roughly 0.96% of the 4.4 million gas customers in New York State.

The PSC's rehearing order was limited to the issue of the waivers for legacy green gas customers. The PSC has not yet ruled on a broader petition from ESCOs to allow ESCOs to provide specific green gas products to mass market customers without being subject to the otherwise applicable pricing limits (see details here).

Addressing claims raised on rehearing that the PSC's action was inconsistent with the state's climate statute, the PSC said, "the end of the Waiver Period has no effect on greenhouse gas emissions from 'green gas' customers. ESCOs offering 'green gas' products typically bundle natural gas service with either carbon offsets or renewable energy credits (RECs). None of the petitions have produced evidence that 'green gas' products reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nor, logically, would the 'green gas' products reduce greenhouse gas emissions – the same natural gas is being burned by 'green gas' customers and normal gas customers, the only difference is whether a carbon offset or REC is purchased after the fact. As the end of the Waiver Period will not affect the attainment of state greenhouse gas emissions limits, the Commission is not required to provide a detailed statement of justification as called for in the CLCPA."

Cases 12-M-0476, 15-M-0127, 98-M-1343

ADVERTISEMENT
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
• NEW! -- Senior Energy Pricing Manager
• NEW! -- Dialer Administrator & Analyst - Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Pricing Manager -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Pricing and Operations Analyst -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Sales Director
• NEW! -- Market Operations Analyst -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Accounting Manager -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Sales Development Representative
• NEW! -- Operations Analyst/Manager - Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Customer Success
• NEW! -- Market Operations Analyst

Email This Story

HOME