The Commission approved ComEd's petition to declare competitive the provision of electricity to retail customers with peak demand in the range of 100 kw up to 400 kw. State statute defines the terms under which a competitive declaration can be made: 1) the petitioner served at least 100,000 customers on December 31, 2005; 2) at least 33% of its customers with peak demand between 100 kw and 400 kw that are eligible to take the class of tariffed service instead take service from an alternative retail electric supplier; and 3) at least three alternative retail electric suppliers provide comparable service. The Commission found that ComEd serves approximately 3.8 million customers; that 43% of customers with peak demand in the 100 kw to 400 kw range are served by an alternative retail electric supplier; and that there are currently fifteen certified alternative retail electric suppliers to serve said customers. Therefore, ComEd satisfied the statutory requirements. The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.

The legislature passed SB1366 providing for the licensing of "agents, brokers, and consultants engaged in the procurement or sale of retail electricity supply for third parties." This legislation defines the term to include "any person or entity that attempts to procure on behalf of or sell retail electric service to an electric customer in the State." However, the legislation specifically excludes licensed alternative retail electric suppliers (ARES), a person acting exclusively on behalf of a single ARES provided that the exclusivity is disclosed, as well as those attempting to procure on behalf of or sell retail electric service to an entity with aggregate billing demand of its Illinois electric accounts in excess of 1,500 kW. Those required to be licensed as agents, brokers or consultants must disclose anticipated remuneration from third parties, maintain copies of marketing materials disseminated for at least three years, and refrain from the use of false or misleading materials amongst other requirements.

The legislation requires the Commission to establish licensing requirements pertaining to technical and managerial competence, financial reporting and annual reporting requirements. The Commission has announced that Staff will host a workshop to facilitate the rulemaking process and has requested that interested parties identify issues for discussion to be included in the workshop agenda. Requests to participate and comments should be forwarded to Staff at jhoward@icc.illinois.gov. Further details about the date and location of the workshop will be forthcoming.

The full text of SB1366 is available on the NEM Website.

A provision of the partial settlement of Consumers gas rate case required that Staff would convene a collaborative to examine the current pool by pool reconciliation method and the possible move to an annual aggregate reconciliation method for reconciling gas deliveries and consumption. Collaborative participants included Consumers, MichCon, NEM and its members. As a result of the discussions, Staff reported to the Commission in favor of changing to an annual aggregate reconciliation methodology which is perceived as "fairer, accurate and competitively neutral." Additionally, Consumers and MichCon did not believe the change would cause operational problems and that a GCR impact would be at a minimum. The Commission considered Staff's recommendations and approved the change. Accordingly, Consumers and MichCon must file tariffs implementing the change within thirty days of the Commission's Order. The full texts of the Commission's Order and Staff's Report are available on the NEM Website.

Governor Spitzer announced that Garry Brown has been nominated to serve as the Chair of the Public Service Commission. Brown is currently the Vice President of External Affairs at NYISO. Brown previously worked for Sithe Energies, served on the Board of Directors of the Independent Power Producers of New York, and was a Senior Policy Analyst for the New York State Energy Office.

Vectren filed an application with the Commission to increase its gas delivery rates as well as alternative regulation plan proposals. Vectren proposes to transition toward a fixed variable rate design for its distribution rates from the current volumetric rate design. As part of that process, Vectren requests approval of a new Sales Reconciliation Rider to recover the difference between its actual base rate revenues and the revenues approved in its rate case, adjusted for customer additions. Also related, is Vectren's proposal to fund demand side management programs that could decrease the average annual use per customer. Vectren also proposes a Distribution Replacement Rider to recover costs associated with a twenty year infrastructure replacement program. As part of the infrastructure replacement program, Vectren proposes to assume ownership of the portion of service lines that are currently considered customer-owned upon their replacement, such as the property line-to-meter portion, including the riser.

The Commission has ordered that a technical conference be scheduled to discuss Vectren's filing. The conference will be held November 13, 2007, at 10AM in the Commission's 11th floor hearing room. The full text of the Vectren's Filing is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission reviewed Duke Energy's Rate Stabilization Plan (RSP) settlement on remand from the state Supreme Court. The Commission found that the settlement should be rejected based on its determination that there was insufficient evidence that the parties had engaged in serious bargaining. This stemmed from the Commission's review of side agreements executed by certain parties that required their support of the Duke settlement and limited evidence of the supportive parties continued presence and participation in negotiations.

Because the Commission rejected the RSP settlement, it went back and reviewed the original RSP plan that Duke Energy had proposed. The Commission found that the original RSP, with certain modifications, provided Duke customers, "on a comparable and nondiscriminatory basis within its certified territory, a market-based standard service offer of all competitive retail electric services necessary to maintain essential electric service to consumers, including a firm supply of electric generation service." The modifications include not allowing the Rate Stabilization Charge as a portion of the POLR charge; increasing the generation charge from 85 percent of little g to 100 percent of little g; and not including environmental compliance, tax and homeland security costs in the POLR charge. The full text of the Order on Remand is available on the NEM Website.