Retail Price Adjustment (Adder) For Standard Choice Offer Customers At Vectren To Jump 50%

Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio's Standard Choice Offer auction conducted on January 25, 2021 resulted in a Retail Price Adjustment (RPA) of $1.16 per Mcf for the period April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2022.

That's more than 50% higher than the current Retail Price Adjustment of $0.75 per Mcf

In a post-auction report, PUCO Staff noted the potential impact of a TC Energy FERC Rate Case on the SCO Auction

"On July 31, 2020, TC Energy Corporation (TC Energy) filed a Rate Case at FERC. In its filing TC Energy proposed an overall increase of approximately seventy-eight percent for the transmission and storage assets that could have an impact on Vectren’s system. The rate proposed by TC Energy will go into effect on February 1, 2021, with a FERC decision expected sometime in early 2022. Prior to the auction, it was anticipated that the TC Energy rate charges could impact the retail price adjustment (RPA) for the Vectren’s 2021 auction which was held on January 25, 2021," Staff said

The new RPA remains subject to PUCO approval, which is to consider the auction results this week

Under the SCO auction, winning suppliers will directly serve non-shopping, choice-eligible customers won through the auction for the period April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2022 at a price equal to the Retail Price Adjustment, fixed for the 12-month term, plus the NYMEX prompt month settlement price for gas. Winning bidders also provide a proportional share of the volumes required to serve choice-ineligible customers under Default Sales Service.

Seven bidders made bids in the auction, which was the same number of participants in the year-ago auction.

The 2021 auction proceeded to a sealed bid round, with four winning bidders sharing 10 tranches. Two bidders won 3 tranches each, and two bidders won 2 tranches each

Bidders were limited to winning a maximum of three tranches

Winning bidder identities will remain confidential for 15 days.

For comparison, in the January 2020 auction, there were also four winning bidders. In 2020, two bidders had won 3 tranches each, one bidder had won 2 tranches, and one bidder had won a single tranche.