Ohio to Develop "Short Term" Workplan to Improve Retail Market, Sets Stakeholder Meetings

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio yesterday announced a series of stakeholder meetings to address improvements in the state's retail electric market, including development of a, "short term market development work plan."

"[T]he Commission finds that a series of stakeholder collaboration workshops should be scheduled for stakeholders to promote coordinated efforts to further develop Ohio's retail electric service market," PUCO said, in an entry in its ongoing retail markets investigation.

"The workshops will be facilitated by Commission Staff and should be used to identify and overcome market constraints, existing issues impacting the relationship between competitive retail electric service providers and electric distribution utilities, existing issues regarding market access, and any other issues that can be overcome to further develop Ohio's retail electric service market. These workshops will be solution-driven; stakeholders attending the workshops are strongly encouraged to recommend changes that can be immediately implemented by competitive retail electric service providers and electric distribution utilities, as well as changes that can be adopted by the Commission," PUCO said.

"The workshops should also be used for the development of a short term market development work plan. This market development work plan should identify changes that the Commission can adopt in the short term to promote the development of Ohio's retail electric service market. This market development work plan will be developed by Commission Staff, as a result of the stakeholder collaboration effort, and will be filed in this case after the workshops have concluded," PUCO said.

The workshop schedule will be as follows:

(a) June 25,2013;

(b) July 30,2013;

(c) September 5,2013;

(d) October 10,2013;

(e) November 7,2013;

(f) December 12,2013.

The Commission directed that by January 16, 2014, Commission Staff should file a status report on the progress of the stakeholder collaboration workshops and indicating whether further workshops would be beneficial or are needed for the development of the market development work plan. The status report should also include a proposed date on which Commission Staff can submit the market development work plan to the Commission.

Case No. 12-3151-EL-COI