Retail Suppliers Seek Enhancements to Pepco POR if Program Brought to D.C.

Retail suppliers submitted comments to the District of Columbia PSC in support of electric Purchase of Receivables, with several suppliers pushing for program elements not contained in the POR program used by Pepco in Maryland (FC 1085).

The PSC's investigation into POR was first reported in Matters (5/10).

For example, the NRG Energy retail companies suggested the following:

- Pepco should be required to purchase all supplier receivables balances that exist at the effective date of POR

- All programming, implementation, and administrative costs should be recovered in a competitively neutral manner, and not in the discount rate

- The discount rate should be based solely on Pepco's underlying bad debt experience

- Discount rates should be established by rate class, with a minimum of residential, small commercial, and large commercial discount rates

- There should be no all-in/all-out requirement

The NRG companies also said that, "POR should be used for all supplier charges placed on the utility consolidated bill," but then later said POR should include, "[a]ll commodity related charges (inclusive of charges for Renewable Energy Credits) and other charges as determined by the Commission [that] are eligible for purchase" (emphasis added).

Washington Gas Energy Services also said that, "all types of supplier charges that are currently allowed to be placed on utility bills by suppliers should continue to be permitted." WGES specifically said that "fixed charges, cancellation fees, and renewable energy charges must be eligible for inclusion in the POR program."

The NRG companies also encouraged the Commission to investigate the feasibility of implementing a supplier consolidated billing program that allows suppliers to properly mitigate their risks in addition to POR, as an alternative for suppliers that may want additional billing flexibility.

The National Energy Marketers Association also urged the PSC to consider implementation of POR for natural gas service.