BGE filed a petition with the Commission requesting an identical implementation date for its electric and gas POR programs. The Commission issued an Order approving discount rates for BGE's electric program last week but has not yet acted on BGE's gas POR program filing. BGE notes that it has designed, programmed and tested the electric and gas programs simultaneously. Additionally, "aspects related to billing, such as calculating and generating bills, purchasing receivables, and posting payments are very difficult to separate. Once implemented, BGE will be purchasing all supplier receivables using BGE's consolidated billing from the effective date going forward. BGE's programming for POR does not allow for any current energy charges on BGE's bill not to be purchased. Put another way, once POR is implemented, BGE will not have the ability to purchase receivables associated with one fuel type and apply the previous payment posting to the curretn receivables of another fuel type." The full text of BGE's Filing is available on the NEM Website.

NEM filed comments on the electric utilities proposed Model Terms and Conditions for POR programs. In the comments NEM requested that the utilities provide examples of the discount rate calculation under current conditions pursuant to the Model Terms to allow the stakeholders to make a practical evaluation of what the utilities have proposed. NEM also recommended that:
1) The Department and the utilities assign a high priority to the implementation of the POR programs for completion by a date certain in order to expedite competitive entry and enhance the availability of competitive energy options for consumers;
2) POR programs should include charges for “Generation Service” as well as demand response and renewable energy products;
3) The availability of rate and bill ready billing at each utility will facilitate competitive entry and maximize the ability of multiple marketers to successfully make competitive offerings consistent with their individual business plans;
4) With respect to the proposed supplier payment calculation formula and methodology: a) late payments should be included as a factor in the computation of the uncollectible discount rate applied to supplier payments under the proposed supplier payment formula; b) the Administrative Cost Percentage component encompasses one-time costs and should have an explicit sunset date; and c) the POR program should mirror the utilities’ current practice with respect to uncollectibles and whether the utilities’ uncollectibles are subject to reconciliation. The full text of NEM's Comments is available on the NEM Website.

The Board will convene a technical conference to review the state's electric generation and capacity needs on June 24, 2010, at 9AM in the Board's Hearing Room. The conference will consist of three panels. The Capacity Issues panel will discuss the state of wholesale electricity markets in the state and whether there will be adequate supply resources to meet forecasted demand. The Potential Obstacles panel will explore what, if anything, is hindering the development of supply resources, such as project financing, environmental constraints, and siting issues. The Possible Solutions panel will discuss how to attract the development of new capacity resources. Comments on the issues raised are due July 2, 2010. The full text of the Notice of Technical Conference is available on the NEM Website.