The Board issued an Order memorializing its actions at its October agenda meetings pertaining to Basic Generation Service (BGS). The Board found as follows: 1) the utilities should procure the approximate one-third of their current BGS-FP load not under contract for a 36-month period; 2) bidder source supply disclosure should not be required during the application process; 3) a Transitional Rate Design Working Group should be instituted to study long term rate design philosophy in light of the state energy choice law and the federal EPAct requirements on time-based rate and metering; 4) the Default Supply Service Availability Charge should be the bid product in the BGS-CIEP auction; 5) the BGS_CIEP Supplier Agreement should be permit pass through of OATT changes to customers and suppliers; 6) the Independent Credit Requirement should be continued; 7) all commercial and industrial customers of 1000kW or greater should be included in the CIEP class beginning in June 1, 2007, and those that wish to join the CIEP class earlier on a voluntary basis may do so; 8) the 5 mill retail margin should be maintained; and 9) the use of a descending clock auction to satisfy the supply needs of the utilities for the supply period beginning June 1, 2007 is tentatively approved.

The full text of the Order is available at: http://www.bpu.state.nj.us/wwwroot/energy/EO05040317_20051208.pdf

NEM previously submitted comments in support of the Petition of its member Accent Energy that requested revisions to the Uniform Business Practices to: 1) authorize ESCOs to receive customer history information or to enroll a customer following access to the customer’s utility account number from a source other than the customer; and 2) direct utilities to provide customer account numbers on an immediate real time basis upon ESCO request. The Commission is requesting further comments on the proposal. The Commission requests specific recommendations on improving ESCO access to account numbers without comprising consumer privacy, increasing potential slamming or imposing additional costs. It also requests additional information on why real time access to the information is needed, given the fact that residential customers must be given at least three days to rescind authorization for enrollment before a request may be sent. Finally, the Commission stated that all parties should address how the incremental costs of internet access should be recovered if such a method is adopted. Comments are due January 6, 2006. The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.

As required by the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Commission initiated an inquiry into smart metering, net metering, cogeneration and distributed generation interconnection standards. The Commission requests comments on these topics as follows:

Smart Metering - 1) what is the effect of real time pricing on customer demand response; 2) what are the latest developments in smart metering or real time pricing metering technologies; 3) whether smart metering should be voluntary or mandatory; 4) what type of real time prices would be displayed; and 5) how would consumers be expected to make use of the information.

Net Metering - 1) should the 100kW limit on microturbine size be changed; 2) what advances in net metering technology have taken place; and 3) should customer generators be permitted to install more than one microturbine per site.

Cogeneration and small power production - 1) what choices are/should be available to interconnection customers for standby and back up power that are competitive with current electric utility rates for supplementary power, back up power, interruptible power, and maintenance power that have been available since 1982; 2) what are the utility rates for standby power that competitive suppliers compete against; 3) what provisions and terms should be included in a bilateral contract for competitive standby power? 4) should an aggregate statewide retail standby power pool for back up energy needs to account for customer generation staggered maintenance and repair schedules be considered; and 5) what mechanisms should be made available to provide generation-owning customers with information about the opportunity to shop for standby power.

DG Interconnection Standards - 1) how has the adoption of the IEEE 1547 standard affected interconnection to distribution systems in the state; and 2) what updates/revisions are being considered relative to IEEE 1547.

Comments are due February 3, 2006. The Commission will also convene technical conferences to receive information on these topics. The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.