SB795, the "Maryland Electricity Reregulation and Energy Independence Act of 2009" and SB844 were introduced. As a a general matter the bills would make a legislative finding that it is the goal of the State to return as soon as possible to a "regulated electric market for all customer classes" that results in a reliable electric system "at the best possible price for ratepayers." The bills similarly require that: 1) the Commission to evaluate the electric companies long-range plans regarding generation needs; 2) new electric generating facilities to be owned by electric companies except under specific circumstances; and 3) electricity generated from in-state facilities (in operation after July 1, 2009) to first be offered for sale to in-state electric companies with the remainder permitted to be sold to the grid.

SB795 would require the Commission to determine "appropriate times" to require an electric company or consortium to acquire an electric generation facility or share of such facility and conduct proceedings to determine the costs, risks and benefits to ratepayers of such action.

A Senate Finance Committee hearing on SB795 and other electric bills is scheduled for March 3, 2009, at 1PM. The full texts of SB795 and SB844 are available on the NEM Website.

The Commission establishied minimum functional requirements for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). The AMI functional requirements include: meet ANSI standards; support net metering; provide the ability for visual reads; provide time interval data; have sufficient memory storage; provide customers with direct, real-time access to electric meter data; can be read remotely on-demand; use an open standards-based communication protocol; have a two-way communications capability; send signals to customer equipment to trigger demand-response functions; connect with a home area network to provide direct or customer-activated load control; identify locate and determine the extent of an outage, be upgradeable; and provide safe and secure transfer of data.

The Commission also created a process for developing a generic approach to AMI cost/benefit analyses. ConEd, O&R and Central Hudson are to file updates on previously proposed AMI pilot projects. The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission reviewed DEO's recent Standard Service Offer (SSO) and Standard Choice Offer (SCO) auctions and found the "auction results are reasonable and should be approved." The SSO auction was a wholesale supply auction and the SCO auction was a retail supply auction. As a result of these auctions the monthly SSO and SCO price will be determined as the sum of the NYMEX settlement price for the prompt month plus Retail Price Adjustments of $1.40 per Mcf. The rates are approved for the period April 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010. PUCO Chairman Schriber commented that, "Customers participating in either the SSO or SCO will experience benefits from this new retail price adjustment as the wholesale natural gas market continues to provide a better commodity price for Dominion's customers than the gas cost recovery mechanism did in the past." The full text of the DEO Auction Order is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission issued an order on rehearing to clarify the rules implementing SB221. The rules pertain to electric utilities filing of electric security plans and market rate offers, reasonable arrangements for economic development and energy efficiency arrangements, corporate separation plans and establishment of transmission cost recovery riders. The Commission clarified aspects of the rules as follows: 1) electric utilities must identify known and anticipated obstacles to the adoption of a proposed competitive bidding process in market rate offer filings; 2) electric suppliers cannot use customer lists provided by the electric utilities for purposes other than marketing electric service to customers; 3) affected parties may file a motion to intervene on any issues pertaining to an electric utility's recovery of transmission-related costs; and 4) electric utilities must include fair market and book valuations of property to be transferred when they submit an application to sell or transfer generating assets. The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.