Staff filed Direct Testimony on ComEd's electric POR program proposal. In its testimony Staff recommends that:
1) the recovery of the implementation costs from participating suppliers be achieved through a fixed percentage charge rather than ComEd's proposed fixed per bill charge, which Staff believes could discourage supplier participation, particularly in serving residential and small commercial customers;
2) application of the same percentage charge approved for Ameren should be used for ComEd resulting in an initial residential discount rate of 2.92% and an initial non-residential discount rate of 1.454%;
3) ComEd should be directed to include the suppliers' required bill inserts when ComEd renders a consolidated bill;
4) the proposed tariff language should be modified to make clear that the "all in" requirement applies to residential customers only; and
5) a downward adjustment in ComEd's proposed return on common equity on PORCB assets to 6.61% should be made recognizing that ComEd will be receiving "dollar for dollar" cost recovery for POR.

The full text of Staff's Direct Testimony is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission issued orders this week approving electric POR discount rates for BGE, Delmarva and Allegheny. The discount rates are as follows:

BGE
Residential – 0.6249%
Type I – 0.3674%
Type II – 0.2173%
HPS – 0.0507%

Delmarva
Residential – 2.1879%
Type I – 0.6295%
Type II – 0.0366%
HPS – 0.0048%

Allegheny
Residential – 1.1306%
Type I – 0.1090%
Type II – 0.0372%
Hourly Priced – 0.0127%

The Commission rejected BGE and Delmarva’s proposed risk factors as unsupported by the record and set that factor at zero. The Commission also declined to require BGE and Delmarva to purchase outstanding receivables from prior to point the program goes into effect, but the utilities must continue to bill any past due supplier balances outstanding as of the POR program effective date for a period of 90 days. Allegheny had offered to purchase outstanding receivables and the Commission directed Allegheny to do so on the date on which the discount rate goes into effect. The utilities are to file revised tariffs by July 1, 2010, with an effective date of July 15, 2010, implementing the Commission's decisions. The full text of the Orders on BGE, Delmarva and Allegheny are available on the NEM Website.

The electric utilities filed proposed Model POR Terms and Conditions with the Department. By the terms of the proposal, participating suppliers would be paid, "the full amounts due from Customers for Generation Service, less a percentage of such amounts that reflects the average of the uncollectible bills for the participating Customer classes of the Company and other reasonable development, operating and carrying costs incurred, as approved by the MDPU." Under the proposal, average payment periods and the percentages will be updated annually, with full reconciliation. The Department will convene a technical conference on July 19, 2010, to consider the proposed terms and conditions. Comments on the utilities' filing are due June 21, 2010. The full texts of the Proposed POR Model Terms & Conditions and Notice of Technical Conference and Request for Comments are available on the NEM Website.

The Commission will hold an Alternative Energy Program Standards (AEPS) Credit Compliance Summit on June 17, 2010 from 1PM to 4PM. Participation is required for electric utilities and suppliers that either had retail electric sales during June 1, 2009, to May 31, 2010, or anticipate such sales during June 1, 2010, to May 31, 2011. The meeting agenda includes presentations by Commission Staff, the AEPS Credit Administrator, a representative of Generation Attribute Tracking System and the Department of Environmental Protection pertaining to their roles in overseeing AEPS compliance as well as utility/supplier requirements to satisfy AEPS obligations. The full text of the Notice is available on the NEM Website.