The City of Hagerstown filed a petition with the Commission requesting it reconsider and reverse its decision to end the Columbia gas choice program. Hagerstown noted it had received no notice of the possibility that the Commission may be terminating the choice program. Hagerstown discussed the consequences of the Commission's decision. "First, it means that the prices we have been negotiating with competitive retail natural gas suppliers at rates lower than Columbia Gas’s – will not come to be. The significant savings we have been planning on have disappeared. Second, the time and resources devoted to making a smart choice with regard to our energy needs has been wasted. Future cost allocations per our Operating Budget will undoubtedly increase, directly impacting our entire customer base of approximately 58,000 users." The full text of Hagerstown's Filing is available on the NEM Website.

Electric choice at Detroit Edison and Consumers Energy are capped by law at 10 percent of the electric utility's average weather-adjusted retail sales for the preceding year. In 2011, the Commission reported that both Detroit Edison and Consumers service territories were fully subscribed at the 10% cap, with 1,793,505 megawatthours (MWh) and 3,074,504 MWh in their respective queues at the end of 2011. At the end of 2011, there were 7,045 commercial and industrial customers participating in both utilities choice programs, representing 1,997 megawatts (MW) of the total energy usage in those territories. Specifically, electric choice load served in the Detroit Edison service in 2011 was 1,212 MW and at Consumers was 785 MW. The number of choice customers in Detroit Edison and Consumers service territories was 5,976 and 1,069, respectively. There were 23 licensed alternative electric suppliers in Michigan at the end of 2011. The full text of the Annual Report on Electric Competition is available on the NEM Website.

As required by the Commission, NYSEG/RG&E filed a report on the feasibility and associated costs of providing customers with access to their Point of Delivery ID via IVR and the web. NYSEG/RG&E held a conference call with ESCOs in which it explained the $97,400 cost of the project, for which ESCOs would be responsible. A number of issues associated with funding and participation requirements were discussed. ESCOs were asked to submit an email regarding their interest in funding the project. Of the 67 ESCOs polled, 31 responded and 9 expressed a willingness to fund the project, however not in a sufficient collective amount to cover the entire $97,400 cost. NYSEG/RG&E concluded that, "Based on the expressed lack of interest and the lack of consensus, it appears that there is no workable solution and the Companies hereby table the Program with no intention to revisit it." The full text of the NYSEG/RG&E Report is available on the NEM Website.

An auction was conducted on January 31, 2012, to establish the Standard Choice Offer rates for Vectren for the period April 1, 2012, through March 31, 2013. The Commission reviewed and approved the auction results finding that the auction was conducted in a fair manner, accurately reflected the current natural gas market and yielded reasonable results. The Commission authorized Vectren to implement its SCO rates based on a $1.05 Retail Price Adjustment (RPA). The monthly SCO price is calculated as the sum of the NYMEX settlement price for the prompt month (converted from Dth to Mcf), plus an RPA of $1.05 per Mcf. This represents a $.30 reduction in the current year RPA. The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.