Retail Suppliers: Utility's Proposal to Delay Reconciliation of Default Service Costs "Ill-Considered and Unreasonable"

A proposal from Niagara Mohawk to defer reconciliations of default service costs for "two or more months" beyond the normal timeframe, "is ill-considered and unreasonable," the Retail Energy Supply Association said in comments to the New York PSC.

EnergyChoiceMatters.com first reported NiMo's proposal to be granted "discretion" to no longer fully reconcile default service costs in one month as required by current tariff, and instead, "spread out the monthly supply cost reconciliations over two or more months, where appropriate."

"Adoption of this approach further exacerbates the lack of transparency and relevance of utility commodity pricing," RESA said. "The goal of pricing transparency and presenting the customer with a clear picture of the impact of taking ESCO service as compared to utility service becomes muddled and incoherent if the utility charges do not reflect current costs and are cloaked in veils of mystery."

Noting that current default supply rates are already a "perpetual snapshot" of applicable utility costs because of true-ups. RESA said that, "To further delay the reconciliation period as now requested would only further serve to make the utility rates less transparent and relevant for making pricing decisions."

"Further, delaying the reconciliation is especially troublesome in Niagara Mohawk due to the current use of the web based Price Calculator," offering a comparison of costs for default service versus ESCO service, RESA said.