PSC Staff Opposes People's Counsel Rehearing Request To Make More Retail Supplier Data Public, Notes Differences Vs EIA Data

Staff of the Maryland PSC have opposed a rehearing request from the Maryland Office of People's Counsel through which OPC seeks to make each retail supplier's monthly residential volume data public

As first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com, the PSC recently required the public reporting of retail supplier residential customer counts by billing type and utility service area, but the PSC held that the supplier monthly volumes should be confidential

OPC, in a rehearing request, argued that supplier volumes should be made public, noting that the federal EIA reports such data after a limited time period of confidentiality expires (story here

Staff, however, contrasted the utility-reported data, that OPC seeks to make public, with the EIA data

The EIA public data is aggregated on a statewide basis, Staff said, while the Maryland utility data (PC 67) is reported by utility service area

Staff said, "The data OPC is asking to be made public is by utility service territory. The PC 67 monthly filings by suppliers provide residential sales by service territory. It is not the same as the monthly and annual residential retail supplier sales data EIA makes publicly available on its website; the EIA data is statewide. Statewide residential sales data differ greatly from retail supplier sales data by service territory. The two data sets are not comparable in terms of data another retail supplier could use to target another supplier's existing residential customers."

Staff said that OPC's petition fails the requirements for the grant of rehearing, as Staff said that OPC's petition does not allege any new facts, nor has OPC's petition proven consequences that would result from compliance (with PSC's original order) which would justify modification

PC67, PC 67