Illinois Commerce Commission Finalizes Protocols for Government Aggregations

The Illinois Commerce Commission has issued a final order regarding Commonwealth Edison's Rate GAP - Government Aggregation Protocols, including a requirement that ComEd provide to governmental aggregations lists of all retail customers, not only those on default service (Docket 11-0434).

Among other things, Section 1-92 (c)(2) of the IPA Act provides that the utility shall provide to governmental aggregations, "those account numbers, names, and addresses of residential and small commercial retail customers in the aggregate area that are reflected in the electric utility's records at the time of the request."

Parties contested the definition of "retail customers," with retail suppliers arguing that the definition should exclude customers already on competitive supply.

As the IPA Act does not define the term retail customer, the ICC said that it is appropriate to refer to the definition found in Section 16-102 of the Public Utilities Act (PUA), which defines a retail customer as a, "single entity using electric power or energy at a single premises and that (A) either (i) is receiving or is eligible to receive tariffed services from an electric utility, or ..."

Such a definition includes customers on competitive supply, the ICC said, since such a customer is "receiving or eligible to receive" tariffed services from the utility.

"The Commission agrees with ComEd that it would be most appropriate for the municipality to have a complete list of customers, a thorough list which includes both delivery and supply customers allows the municipality to contact all potential customers regarding its aggregation program."

Regarding the definition of small commercial customer, the ICC affirmed that the term shall be defined in accordance with the Section 16-102 of the PUA, meaning a non-residential customer who consumes 15,000 kWh or less annually.

The ICC also directed ComEd to adopt tariff revisions relating to:

1) a 30-day limit on a Government Authority to issue opt-out notices and switch customers after the receipt of name and address list and account list, respectively: and

2) the inclusion, as part of Rate GAP's data release process, of a list of retail customers who are participating in the Percentage of Income Payment Plan through the Illinois Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

The ICC found that ComEd should provide generic load profiles when providing information to government authorities. The Illinois Competitive Energy Association had sought the provision of customer-specific Peak Load Contribution/Network Service Peak Load (PLC/NSPL)

The Commission adopted several provisions related to the protection of customer information provided to government authorities, most notably:

"To ensure compliance with the law, and particularly with regard to protecting customer-specific information described in Items 18 through 23 of the Company Obligations Section of this Rate GAP, the Government Authority [GA] will require, as a material condition to a contract or other written agreement with both the RES [retail electric supplier] selected to procure the aggregated electric power and energy supply service to eligible customers within the boundaries of the Government Authority and with any third party it has engaged to assist in any aspect of the aggregation process, that there be established and followed appropriate protocols to preserve the confidentiality of customer-specific information and limit the use of such customer-specific information strictly and only to effectuate the provisions of Section 1-92 of the IPA Act. The GA will ensure that these protocols, at the minimum, reasonably limit the number of authorized representatives of the selected RES and any other third party who need access to the customer-specific information; provide that the RES or any third party will not disclose, use, sell, or provide customer-specific information to any person, firm or entity for any purpose outside of the aggregation program; and, acknowledge that the customer-specific information remains the property of the GA and that breaches of confidentiality will have certain, specified, and sufficient consequences. Moreover, the municipality/township/county will, and will require the selected RES to, delete and/or destroy the customer-specific information described in said Items 18 through 23 within 60 days after the Company provides said information ... Any warrant from a Government Authority submitted in accordance with the provisions of this tariff must be submitted to the Company in writing by a responsible official of such Government Authority, in the form of a sworn and notarized affidavit, attesting to the truth of the statement contained in the warrant."

Finally, various parties had suggested a rulemaking to address issues not addressed in the ComEd tariff. Specifically, a rulemaking would be primarily beneficial for situations where a municipality nears the end of its initial aggregation contract and seeks to explore aggregation options after the initial contracts ends. ICC Staff understands that such a situation will arise for the first time in calendar year 2013. From its experience in informal workshop discussions, it has become clear to Staff that several novel issues associated with a municipality pursuing a follow-up aggregation program are not addressed in ComEd's Rate GAP tariff and will likely need to be addressed in the future.

However, Staff said that it required more research to determine if the ICC had statutory authority for such a rulemaking, given the bi-furcated statutory scheme under both the PUA and the IPA Act. The ICC granted Staff 60 days to research the Commission's rulemaking authority and to present its findings to the Commission outside of the instant docket