Texas Market Participant Would Pay $5,000 Under Settlement With PUCT Staff

Cielo Wind Services Inc. would pay $5,000 under a settlement with Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas to resolve alleged violations of Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Protocols § 16.12.3, concerning market participant audits of user security administrators and digital certificates.

ERCOT Protocols § 16.12.3(1) states that "[d]uring September of each year, each Market Participant shall generate a list of its registered [User Security Administrator] and Certificate Holders. The Market Participant, through its USA or another authorized third party, shall perform an audit by reviewing the list and noting any inconsistencies or instances of non-compliance (including, for example, any Certificate Holder that may have changed job functions and no longer requires the Digital Certificate)."

ERCOT Protocols § 16.12.3(2) states that each market participant is required to submit to ERCOT an attestation of compliance based on that audit (a Digital Certificate Audit Attestation or DCAA) by October 1 of each year. Attestations must be completed for each market participant type (e.g., counterparty, qualified scheduling entity, load serving entity, etc.).

The settlement states that Cielo holds the following registration type: Independent Market Information System Registered Entity. The settlement states that, as such, Cielo was required to file one DCAA by October 1, 2015.

The settlement states that Cielo submitted its calendar year 2015 DCAA on January 28, 2016, and as such, this filing was not timely made.

The settlement states that, previously, on December 5, 2014, Commission Staff issued a warning letter to Cielo regarding a failure to submit DCAAs for calendar year 2013.

The settlement states that Cielo timely filed its calendar year 2016 DCAA.