New York PSC Grants Limited Further Extension Of Deadline By Which ESCOs Must Stop Serving Low-Income Customers

The Secretary of the New York PSC has granted a limited, 30-day extension of the compliance deadline by which ESCOs must stop serving assistance program participant (APP) customers

As previously reported, the PSC had extended the deadline for compliance with most of the ordering clauses of the APP prohibition order until May 26, 2017, as a result of pending litigation

With such litigation still unresolved, the Impacted ESCO Coalition had requested a further extension until July 31, 2017, or a floating extension of 21 days following issuance of a judgment from the Albany County Supreme Court concerning the order.

Separately, noting the time required to complete various operational requirements once certainty regarding the APP order is achieved, the joint utilities had requested that the Secretary grant a delay of the lesser of 120 days or two weeks following notice from the Secretary of an Albany County Supreme Court judgment, assuming the judgment permits the Commission to move forward with the APP prohibition order.

In such request, the joint utilities had estimated that the various compliance efforts needed to implement the APP order would take approximately two weeks to complete once finality is established.

In light of that timeframe, the Secretary declined to grant an extended delay for compliance.

"The fixed time periods for an extension proposed by the Joint Utilities and the Impacted ESCO Coalition do not seem justified in light of the time the Joint Utilities forecast as needed for compliance. Granting an extension in the alternative, as the Joint Utilities propose, may potentially create confusion. An extension tied to the date of any decision, as requested by both the Joint Utilities and the Impacted ESCO Coalition, also appears inappropriate, given the need to forecast what decision might be reached. Further, it is difficult to say what period of time is needed to accommodate any decision," the Secretary said.

However, the Secretary found that, "[a] shorter extension of 30 days, to be extended as needed, accordingly is most appropriate."

Accordingly, the Secretary ordered that, "the requirements of Ordering Clauses 1-3, and 5-11 of the Prohibition Order are further extended until June 26, 2017."

Ordering Clauses 1-3 and 5-11 of the December 16 APP Prohibition Order are essentially all of the enacting provisions implementing the prohibition of ESCO service to APP customers, including the requirement for ESCOs to drop existing APP customers to default service (timing contingent on product type)

See the complete Ordering Clauses in our prior story (click here)

Ordering Clause 4 related to, for utilities with the ESCO Consolidated Billing Model, the development of draft "drop" letters concerning ESCO service to APP customers, and filing such letters with the PSC