President Picker issued a proposed decision on the implementation of SB237. SB 237 directed the Commission to increase the maximum allowable kilowatt-hour annual limit for direct access (DA) transactions by 4,000 GWh and to apportion the increase among the service territories of the IOUs. "In order to allow equal access to the DA program, the Commission is apportioning the 4,000 GWh to each IOU’s service territory based on the proportion of each respective IOU’s eligible DA load to the total statewide eligible DA load." The proposed decision sets forth a calculation methodology for this purpose.

The proposed decision also sets forth a timeline for the DA expansion by January 1, 2020 as follows: "by June 14, 2019, the IOUs must notify customers who are on the waitlist that is effective for 2019 and eligible to join the DA program they may switch to the DA program. By July 8, 2019, the notified customers must state whether they choose to switch from their current service provider to DA service. And by July 31, 2019, customers who choose to switch to the DA program must select an ESP and the ESP must submit the Direct Access Service Request (DASR) form to the incumbent IOU. . . . Also, . . . by July 15, 2019, the IOUs must provide CCAs in their service territories with the amount of load for existing CCA customers who have elected to switch to the DA program."

With respect to the issue of determining eligible customers, the proposed decision states that "the increase in the DA cap should be apportioned over two years using the 2019 and 2020 waitlists. The 2,000 GWh of the DA expansion must be enrolled pursuant to the expedited schedule established in section 3.2 of the instant decision [see paragraph above], and the remaining 2,000 GWh of the DA expansion should be enrolled using the 2020 Waitlist. To accommodate resource adequacy (RA) planning requirements, the load that is enrolled pursuant to the 2019 Waitlist cannot begin DA service until January 1, 2020, and customers enrolled pursuant to the 2020 Waitlist cannot begin DA service until January 1, 2021."

The full text of the Proposed Decision is available on the NEM Website.

This week, Governor Hogan signed SB517/HB689 pertaining to consumer education and increased website posting requirements for both electric and natural gas suppliers. The Commission currently only maintains an electric shopping website. Accordingly, the price reporting and posting requirements included for natural gas offers are a new obligation. SB517/HB659 become effective October 1, 2019.

SB517/HB689 require:
1) Each electric supplier actively seeking residential customers in a service territory in the state shall maintain at least one open offer to supply electricity to residential customers on the Commission website at all times;
2) The Commission's electric shopping website shall permit sorting of offers to residential electric customers based on cost of service, cost of electricity per kilowatt-hour, rate structure, duration of the contract, cancellation fee and any other aspect of service the Commission deems necessary;
3)The Commission's electric shopping website shall include a link to each electricity supplier with an open offer to residential electric customers;
4) The Commission's electric shopping website shall include a link to a consumer complaint process through the Commission;
5) The Commission shall establish a natural gas shopping website that permits sorting of open offers to residential natural gas customers based on cost of service, cost of natural gas per therm, rate structure, duration of the contract, cancellation fee and any other aspect the Commission deems necessary;
6) The Commission's natural gas shopping website shall include a link to each natural gas supplier with an open offer to residential natural gas customers;
7) The Commission's natural gas shopping website shall include a link to a consumer complaint process through the Commission; and
8) The Commission shall maintain a secure portal on its website to collect information from natural gas suppliers to which suppliers shall submit, at least once a month, open offers to supply natural gas.

The full text of HB689 is available on the NEM Website.

In response to a Petition to the Board to review the utilities gas capacity release programs, the Board found that prior to making any changes to such program it should examine "the effectiveness of energy competition, by exploring if and to what extent TPSs are saving customers money on their natural gas supply, prior to considering any major changes to the January 2003 BGSS Order or the GDCs' current gas capacity release programs."

Accordingly, the Board directed that a stakeholder proceeding be opened to "explore whether sufficient capacity has been secured to serve all of New Jersey's firm natural gas customers as well as whether and to what extent TPSs are saving customers money on their natural gas supply." Staff was directed to post notice of the new docket on the Board website. The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.

The Board initiated a proceeding to determine the best procurement process for Basic Generation Service - Residential and Small Commercial Pricing (BGS-RSCP) and Basic Generation Service - Commercial and Industrial Energy Pricing (BGS-CIEP) requirements, and the capacity needs of Rockland's non-PJM service area within New Jersey, for the period beginning June 1, 2020. The Board issued the following preliminary BGS schedule, which follows the procedural schedule utilized in prior years:

7/01/2019 - Utilities Filing of Proposals and/or Modifications for BGS for the period beginning June 1, 2020
7/22/2019 - Discovery request deadline
8/5/2019 - Discovery response deadline
9/4/2019 - Deadline for Initial Comments on all proposals
TBA - Legislative-type Hearing
TBA - Public Hearings
10/4/2019 - Deadline for Final Comments
Nov. 2019 - Expected Board decision on BGS proposals
Dec 2019 - Utilities Compliance Filings
Dec. 2019 - Expected Board decision on Compliance Filings
Feb. 2020 - Procurement Process for BGS Supply requirements

The full text of the BGS Order is available on the NEM Website.