The Commission opened a Notice of Inquiry, as required by recently passed state law, to examine existing consumer education information for residential and small commercial customers and to consider whether updates to that information are necessary. The Commission issued the following specific questions for comment:

"1. Is there a need for the Commission to update existing consumer educa-tion information for residential and small commercial customers? Please provide specific examples of information that is no longer accurate or that is not complete in its explanation of a particular issue.
2. If a commenting party is of the opinion that certain information requires updating, provide proposed language to remedy the perceived shortcoming of the current language."

Additionally, comment is sought on the proposed Commission display of residential complaints against alternative retail electric suppliers on the PlugInIllinois website.

Comments are due December 1, 2011, and reply comments are due December 15, 2011. The full text of the NOI is available on the NEM Website.

A settlement was reached between parties to Duke Energy Ohio's Electric Security Plan (ESP) proceeding. The settlement pertains to the utility's generation service from January 1, 2012, through May 31, 2015. The settlement would provide for:
1) use of a descending clock, auction-based procurement process to determine commodity rates;
2) a zero percent discount rate POR program;
3) a non-bypassable generation charge, the Electric Service Stability Charge Rider, from 2012 to 2014 to compensate the utility for its provision of retail electric service as an FRR entity while continuing to operate under an electric security plan; and
4) the transfer of Duke Energy Ohio's generating assets to an affiliate by Dec. 31, 2014.

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