The Board has begun the process of determining how the remaining requirements for Fixed Price Basic Generation Service (BGS) customers and the annual requirements for Commerical and Industrial Energy Pricing customers will be procured for the period beginning June 1, 2014. The Board adopted the following procedural schedule for this case, commencing with the filing of utility and other stakeholder proposals on BGS procurement:

Preliminary 2014 BGS Schedule

7/01/2013-Filing of BGS Proposals
7/19/2013-Discovery requests due
8/02/2013-Discovery responses due
8/30/2013-Initial Comments on proposals
TBA-Legislative-type Hearing
TBA-Public Hearings
9/27/2013-Final Comments
Nov. 2013-Expected Board decision on BGS proposals
Nov/Dec-EDC Compliance Filing
Dec. 2013-Expected Board decision on Compliance Filing
Feb. 2014-Procurement Process for BGS Supply requirements

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

In furtherance of its on-going electric retail market investigation, the Commission has issued additional questions for stakeholder comment. The Commission notes, "the questions do not imply that the Commission supports or opposes the ideas posed in the questions." The additional questions are as follows:

"MARKET DESIGN
(a) Comments were filed suggesting that the relationship between an incumbent electric distribution utility (EDU) and a customer should be neither terminated nor encouraged. Does this comment pertain to distribution service or to generation service?
(b) If predatory pricing or other market factors become a barrier to a fully functional competitive retail electric service market, can and should the Commission regulate predatory pricing or other market factors?
(c) In a fully functional retail market, with no merchant or wholesale based default service, should the Commission and/or an independent market monitor have the ability to regulate market power?
(d) Regarding government aggregation, should the Commission require public disclosure of any information in addition to commodity pricing, such as inducements or incentives related to commodity contracts? In general, should the Commission require public disclosure of any information in addition to commodity pricing, such as inducements, incentives, or broker commission related to commodity contracts?
(e) Would a time-differentiated standard service offer (SSO) rate cause more shopping based upon customer preference for avoiding uncertainty?
(f) Are competitive retail electric service providers better positioned to manage uncertainty in a retail market than EDUs that offer a flat SSO rate?
(g) Is integrated resource planning compatible with a retail market construct? If yes, how can such planning be done, given the current construct of functionally separated business units? If no, how can investment in transmission, generation, and demandmanagement be co-optimized?
(h) Could integrated resource plans be done on a statewide basis? If so, how would such planning be accomplished? Could the Commission be helpful in facilitating this type of planning?

CORPORATE SEPARATION
(a) How can the Commission ensure that decisions made on behalf of the jurisdictional EDU are not providing preferential outcomes for nonregulated entities?
(b) Is there a corporate structure that will ensure decisions made by non-EDU affiliates minimize costs to ratepayers of the EDU?
(c) Since generation has been declared competitive in Ohio, should return on investment for EDUs be reduced in order to reflect lower risk?
(d) Should the capital structure of EDUs be more heavily weighted toward debt in light of the reduced risk associated with a wires-only company?
(e) FERC Order 1000 requires and/or enables regional transmission organizations to consider non transmission options and merchant transmission options in their planning processes. Would a statewide integrated resource plan or shadow plan provide the market with guidance on where and/or how to make investments in conjunction with the PJM planning process?
(f) How could a competitive process be developed to provide all transmission developers, including incumbent transmission owners, with a fair chance to bid a transmission solution to a reliability problem identified by PJM?
(g) Should competitive bidding for transmission construction be considered in order to ensure the lowest possible cost?
(h) Does the current treatment of capacity injection rights adequately address units that retire and are later reactivated?"

The Commission has also postponed the date for the initial stakeholder collaborative meeting to July 9, 2013. Comments on the additional questions are due July 8, 2013, and reply comments are due July 22, 2013. The full text of the Entry is available on the NEM Website.

Noting that five years have passed since it first authorized the use of auctions to procure natural gas commodity for retail customers, the Commission has decided it is an appropriate time to initiate a review of the retail natural gas market. The Commission is seeking comments on the current Standard Choice Offer auctions and recommendations on other measures to support a fully competitive retail gas marketplace in the State. The questions issued for comment are as follows:

"(a) What regulatory changes, if any, should be made to further support a fully competitive retail natural gas marketplace?
(b) What types of educational programs, if any, should be implemented to ensure that retail customers are fully aware of the options open to them for purchasing retail natural gas service?
(c) Does the SCO provide a competitive level playing field for SCO providers and competitive retail natural gas service (CRNGS) providers? For example, how, if at all, do the following processes differ for SCO and CRNGS providers: data collection; contract administration; customer enrollment; and customer service?
(d) Are there barriers to market entry associated with the SCO and, if so, how are those barriers affecting the growth of Ohio's competitive market?
(e) Is the SCO functioning as a competitive market price?"

Comments are due July 9, 2013, and reply comments are due July 30, 2013. The full text of the Entry is available on the NEM Website.