Governor Rell vetoed Bill 493, An Act Reducing Electricity Costs and Promoting Renewable Energy. The Bill would have had substantial negative impacts on the competitive electric market. In vetoing the legislation, Rell said it, “is not in the best interests of the ratepayers or taxpayers of our state," and that it, “fails to deliver the very benefit its title promises.” “The legislation, as well-intentioned as it is, would likely result in higher utility bills for consumers and, at time when taxpayers simply cannot afford bigger government, creates another state bureaucracy,” Rell said.

Rell did note that, "Although Connecticut has endured years of steadily increasing electric costs, there is some good news. We have increased our renewable electric generation capacity and significantly increased energy efficiency across all customer segments. Electric competition has finally taken hold and ratepayers have begun to relaize millions of dollars in savings each year. Investment in renewable energy has grown and we have put programs in place to spark development of green technology jobs as the economy improves."

Rell was also critical of the manner in which the legislation was passed in the final days of the legislative session, without opportunity for public review and input. The full text of the Veto Message is available on the NEM Website.

BGE filed a new proposal to make customer lists available to competitive suppliers. BGE proposes to make residential customer names and addresses available. Customers will be designated on the list as electric, gas or combined customers. The lists will not include customer phone numbers. Customers will participate on an opt-out basis. BGE estimates an initial charge of $715 for participating suppliers. The full text of the BGE Proposal is available on the NEM Website.

Upon consideration of Motions filed by the Office of People's Counsel, the Commission decided to open proceedings that consider all of the components of the SOS Administrative Charge for BGE, Pepco and Delmarva. In opening the BGE proceeding the Commission noted that, "The Administrative Charge is comprised of four components, which components were agreed upon through settlement negotiations. Additionally, the Settlement Agreement, although expired, reflects the parties’ agreement that each return component and the cost component were to remain fixed. As Staff points out, the return, CWC [cash working capital] and other components of the Administrative Charge were negotiated to establish a “finely crafted balance” in the Administrative Charge. Consequently, to permit BGE to change the CWC revenue requirement for all of its customers, including residential, without review of the other components, may adversely alter this balance to the detriment of the ratepayers and significant benefit to the Company." The full texts of the BGE Order and Pepco/Delmarva Order are available on the NEM Website.

The Commission opened an investigation into POR for the electric utilities, as required by state law. The electric utilities previously filed plans with the Department. However, the Department found that, "While these plans are consistent in some areas, there are also many differences in the methods by which each Company proposes to implement its plan. The Department believes that customers and the competitive market will be best served by attaining as much uniformity as reasonable among the Companies' POR plans. Accordingly, the Department votes to open this investigation . . . in order to develop model POR terms and conditions. The Department expects that each Company will use the model POR terms and conditions as the basis for its specific POR terms and conditions." The utilities are required to submit proposed model POR terms and conditions by June 7, 2010. Comments on the utilities' proposal are due June 21, 2010. A technical conference in this proceeding will also be held. The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.