The Commission instituted a rate stabilization plan for BGE residential customers to commence July 2006. The plan will last for two years with customer bills for the first eight months ending in February 2007 to reflect a distribution rate credit, and with recovery of deferred amounts to take place over a fifteen month period ending in May 2008, subject to true-up. Customers participating in the Electric Universal Service Program will receive a three year plan. Significantly, the Commission decided the plan should be implemented on an opt-out basis, rather than opt-in as the Staff proposed. The Commission found that a rate of five percent was appropriate for carrying costs.

With respect to consumer education, the Commission recognized the concerns of NEM and WGES that the consumer education message be implemented in a competitively neutral manner. BGE, the Commission's Office of External Relations and the Consumer Education Advisory Board are to develop the consumer education plan, and a compliance filing including outreach efforts, billing issues and timelines is due March 31, 2006.

NEM and WGES recommendations concerning billing and payment and customer lists were recognized by the Commission as "important issues." However, the Commission felt, "issues relating to marketer-utility interactions are best addressed in other proceedings, such as the pending rulemaking regarding these matters." The full text of the BGE Rate Stabilization Plan Order is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission also initiated a separate proceeding to investigate the institution of a rate stabilization plan for Pepco and Delmarva residential customers. Parties are to file comments recommending whether and to what extent the BGE plan should be extended to these utilities. The Commission noted it, "would prefer to consider a transition plan that reflects market-based price signals for electric supply, while mitigating the effects of rate shock on the non-bypassable portion of customers' bills." Comments and interventions are due March 16, 2006. The full text of the Order Initiating Proceeding is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission has adopted a procedural schedule for its investigation into default service for Type II Standard Offer Service Customers. The schedule is as follows:

Testimony - March 31, 2006
Reply Testimony - April 28, 2006
Hearings - May 8-10, 2006
Briefs - May 24, 2006
Reply Briefs - June 5, 2006

The full text of the Notice of Procedural Schedule is available on the NEM Website.

Board Staff scheduled a meeting for March 22, 2006, from 9:30-11AM in the Board's 8th floor hearing room to consider natural gas issues. Conference call capabilities are also available (877-807-5706 participant code – 940541). The meeting is meant to focus on: 1) how customers are supposed to know what price adjustments are in the works from the utilities that might influence their retail choice decision? how are customers and TPSs currently made aware of pending natural gas rate increases/decreases/credits? is there a need to improve the process? how?; and 2) utilities “price to Compare”- is it serving its purpose for residential customers? C&I customers?

Staff issued an outstanding, comprehensive "Report on the State of Competitive Energy Markets: Progress to Date and Future Opportunities." The Report found that "the total real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) electric price for a typical residential retail customer in New York, including supply and delivery charges, has dropped by an average of approximately 16% between 1996 and 2004. Most commercial and industral customers have seen decreases in their real energy bills as well." Additionally, "the overall cost of supply embedded in retail rates in upstate New York was $50/MWh in 1996, prior to restructuring, and the all-in cost of supply in the upstate wholesale market was also $50/MWh during 2002-2004, post restructuring." Staff reports that there are "at least seven ESCOs providing residential customers with electric and natural gas service and at least 12 ESCOs providing non-residential customers with electric and natural gas service within each utility's service territory." Those ESCOs are offering a greater variety of services too - various pricing structures, green power, load control, energy efficiency assistance and appliance maintenance contracts. As to customer switching, Staff reports that, "over 75% of the large electric TOU customer load and over 40% of other business customer load now takes commodity service from competitive energy service companies. The number of residential customer accounts taking electric supply from ESCOs has grown 29.4% in 2005. Fully 100% of large volume natural gas customers are no longer taking their commodity supply from the utility and 18.5% of all other non-residential natural gas customers are now served by ESCOs. The amount of residential natural gas customer load served by ESCOs has reached 16%, which is an increase of 20% from 2004."

Staff makes a number of recommendations to further improve competitive markets including: 1) implementation of an efficient and effective generation siting process; 2) improved demand response through enhanced metering infrastructure, more dynamic pricing structures and improved mechanisms for demand side participation in markets; 3) minimization of wholesale market seams; 4) increase consumer education and awareness; 5) improve price transparency to consumers through continued efforts to fully and separately identify energy supply costs and energy delivery costs; 6) continue statewide implementation of best practices such as time-differentiated pricing, ESCO referral programs and purchase of receivables; 7) update Uniform Business Practices and EDI documents to reflect current Commission policies favoring the use of ESCO consolidated billing practices; and 8) "promote cost and price comparability in a transparent manner between utility and ESCO commodity services and encourage ESCOs to provide more value-added services primarily to residential customers." The full text of Staff's Report is available on the NEM Website.

NFG filed a proposed marketer hedge program pilot. The program is intended to assist marketers in offering fixed price products to customers. Under the terms of the proposal, NFG would purchase or settle unsubsribed hedges offered by marketers to retail customers. The pilot would be limited to the winter season, November through March. The program total daily volume would be limited to 10,000/Dth per day which is enough to meet requirements for 17,800 residential customers. NFG will host a teleconference on March 14, 2006, at 10AM, to explain its filing. The full text of NFG's Proposed Marketer Hedge Program is available on the NEM Website.