The Commission adopted a decision in May on the implementation of SB237. SB 237 increased the maximum allowable kilowatt-hour annual limit for direct access (DA) transactions by 4,000 GWh. "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 Commission found that the DA expansion should be apportioned, 2,000 GWh to the 2019 waitlist and 2,000 GWh to the 2020 waitlist. Moreover, the Commission found that "because the RA [resource adequacy] year-ahead forecasts are due in April of the prior year, the earliest date that customers may enroll in the DA expansion is January 1, 2021."

PG&E, SCE and SDG&E have now filed advice letters to implement SB237 and the Commission's decision. Specifically, the advice letters update the utilities direct access switching rules, to implement the increased limits.

The full texts of the Decision and Advice Letters are available on the NEM Website.

The Department previously held a technical session to discuss the initiatives identified in the Competitive Market Notice of Inquiry. During the technical session, the Department announced it will form two stakeholder working groups to address the initiatives. On June 26, 2019, from 2PM to 4PM, the Department will host an initial meeting for both working groups.

One working group will address "Customer Awareness/Protection" initiatives: (1) automatic renewal; (2) customer complaint data; (3) marketing standards of conduct; (4) supplier enrollment reports; and (5) EnergySwitch.MA awareness. The second working group will address improvements to the Energy Switch website, including but not limited to the display of municipal aggregation products. Staff reviewed the comments received on the various issues and its proposed recommendations. The Technical Session Slides are available on the NEM Website.

This week, NEM filed a request for a further extension for ESCO compliance with the Commission’s Order Adopting Revised Uniform Business Practices (UBP) that was issued on January 19, 2018. NEM requested a further extension of ninety days for ESCO compliance with the UBP Order from the current extension date of July 5, 2019. NEM and other stakeholders filed Petitions for Rehearing on the UBP Order in February 2018, but a Commission decision on the Petitions has not yet been issued. As explained in previous NEM filings, a further extension for compliance is justified and reasonable because of the significant nature of the UBP changes in the UBP Order; the resources that will be required for ESCOs to implement the changes; and uncertainty regarding certain terms in the UBP Order that will require Commission clarification in order to ensure ESCO compliance. The full text of NEM's Request for Extension is available on the NEM Website.

The New York Senate and Assembly both passed S6599/A8429, the Climate Leadership and Consumer Protection Act, this week. Governor Cuomo lauded the passage of the bill. Of particular note, the bill requires the Commission to establish a program by June 30, 2021, to require that:
"(a) a minimum of seventy percent of the state wide electric generation secured by jurisdictional load serving entities to meet the electrical energy requirements of all end-use customers in New York state in two thousand thirty shall be generated by renewable energy systems; and (b) that by the year two thousand forty (collectively, the "targets") the statewide electrical demand system will be zero emissions. In establishing such program, the commission shall consider and where applicable formulate the program to address impacts of the program on safe and adequate electric service in the state under reasonably foreseeable conditions. The commission may, in designing the program, modify the obligations of jurisdictional load serving entities and/or the targets upon consideration of the factors described in this subdivision."

A "jurisdictional load serving entity" is defined as "any entity subject to the jurisdiction of the commission that secures energy to serve the electrical energy requirements of end-use customers in New York state."

The Commission must perform biannual reviews of the program, evaluating success in reaching the renewable targets. The Commission is also authorized to temporarily suspend or modify the program obligations upon a finding that: "the program impedes the provision of safe and adequate electric service; the program is likely to impair existing obligations and agreements; and/or that there is a significant increase in arrears or service disconnections that the commission determines is related to the program."

The Commission must also establish a program by July 1, 2024, "to require the procurement by the state's load serving entities of at least nine gigawatts of offshore wind electricity generation by two thousand thirty-five and six gigawatts of photovoltaic solar generation by two thousand twenty-five, and to support three gigawatts of statewide energy storage capacity by two thousand thirty."

The full text of S6599/A8429 is available at this link.

The Commission opened a proceeding to consider the institution of consolidated billing for Community Distributed Generation (CDG) and other distributed energy resources (DERs).

Comment is sought on the following questions:
"1. Should consolidated billing use the “purchase of receivables” model? Should the purchase of receivables be with or without recourse?
2. Should consolidated billing require that the subscription charge for each member be set at a percentage of value of the credit received by the CDG member (e.g., a subscription charge equal to 90% of value of the credits, varying each billing period based on the credit value) or should other billing models also be enabled?
3. Should a limit be set on the amount of charges, such as a requirement that the subscription charge be less than the bill credit value?
4. Should consolidated billing be limited to specific service classes or available to all customers?
5. Should any special provisions apply to consolidated billing of low-income customers?
6. Should utilities recover the costs associated with consolidated billing through retaining a percentage of the billed amount or through another method such as a per customer fee? At what level or how should the amount of the percentage or other fee be set?
7. How should the information necessary for consolidated billing be communicated between the CDG Sponsor and the utility?
8. Are additional consumer protection rules necessary for the institution of consolidated billing, beyond those currently in the Uniform Business Practices for Distributed Energy Resource Suppliers (UBP-DERS)?
9. Beyond CDG, what other DER products and services should consolidated billing be considered for?"

Comments are due September 3, 2019. The full text of the Notice Seeking Comments is available on the NEM Website.