PUC Affirms Emergency Order Related to POR Clawback Dispute

The Pennsylvania PUC at its meeting yesterday ratified a prior one-commissioner emergency order which granted certain relief requested by Respond Power in a dispute concerning a POR clawback charge at the FirstEnergy EDCs

See background on Respond's petition here, and the FirstEnergy EDCs' answer here

The ratified emergency order directs Penelec and West Penn to cease and desist from implementing a POR Clawback charge until Penelec and West Penn have filed the appropriate tariff supplements and obtained the Commission's approval thereof, or November 27, 2016 whichever occurs later. The FirstEnergy EDCs have since filed tariff supplements related to the clawback, though the PUC, as of publicly available documents in the case as of publication time, has not issued an order approving the compliance tariffs.

In an answer, the FirstEnergy EDCs have argued that, consistent with PUC precedent, the supplier coordination tariff containing the clawback provision is not a services tariff and, as such, is not subject to the requirements of Section 1302. The EDC also said that because the tariff supplements containing the clawback mirror the terms set forth in the tariff supplement forms that were previously filed in petition for settlement in a default service proceeding and approved by a May 19 PUC Order, there is no basis for requiring a subsequent "approval" of those supplements.

The PUC's ratification order does not reach the merits of Respond's arguments, and the order referred such issues to the Office of Administrative Law Judge for further review