The Office of Retail Market Development (ORMD) submitted its annual report to the legislature on the state of retail electric competition in Illinois. The Report shows a slight increase from last year in the number of alternative retail electric suppliers (ARES) certified to serve retail customers and licensed agents, brokers and consultants. However, compared to last year, the percentage of electric usage provided by ARES has dropped as have migration rates. The Report notes that, "[a]s of May 31, 2016, more than 2 million residential customers across the state receive their power from an ARES, a decrease of approximately 668,000 from a year earlier." The decline in migration is significantly related to the end of the City of Chicago aggregation.

Prior year ORMD reports included an estimate of total annual savings realized by residential RES customers in the ComEd service territory, calculated with and without the effects of the Purchased Electricity Adjustment (PEA). For the period of June 2015 through May 2016, ORMD estimated that shopping customers paid over $79 million more than ComEd default service customers, and that when the PEA impact is included (-$35 million), that figure increases to over $115 million. ORMD also performed this analysis for Ameren Illinois for the first time. It found that for the period of June 2015 through May 2016 that shopping customers paid $2 million more than Ameren default service customers, and that when the PEA impact is included (-$8.6 million), that figure increases to over $10 million.

The full text of the ORMD Report is available on the NEM Website.

The electric utilities filed a joint proposal for the procurement of electric power for basic generation service (BGS) customers for the supply period beginning in June 1, 2017, as well as company-specific addenda. The utilities propose the continuance of the descending clock auction for BGS procurement. The utilities will procure one-third of their BGS-RSCP (Residential Small Commercial Pricing) load for the BGS Supply period beginning June 1, 2017, with the other two-thirds having been procured in the 2015 and 2016 auctions. "A rate design methodology that accounts for supply procured in prior Auctions will be used to translate final Auction prices into BGS-RSCP customer rates for one year beginning June 1, 2017." With respect to BGS-CIEP (Commercial and Industrial Energy Pricing) load, the procurement term will be one year for the period beginning on June 1, 2017. The BGS-CIEP rate design methodology reflects energy prices at the hourly market. "The BGS-CIEP Auction will determine the BGS-CIEP Price, which will be paid to bidders on the basis of the capacity obligation of customers." The utilities propose that the CIEP line remain at 500 kW for the 2017 BGS-CIEP Auction.

The utilities' BGS Proposal is available at: http://bgs-auction.com/bgs.auction.regproc.asp

A Secretarial Letter from the Commission was issued regarding the new regulatory requirement for Natural Gas Suppliers (NGSs) to include a contract summary with their disclosure statement to consumers. The Secretarial Letter directs NGSs to provide the contract summaries for review by staff at OCMO and the Bureau of Consumer Services. "All NGSs that are actively soliciting residential and small business customers are directed to submit a draft sample of the Contract Summary they intend to use. NGSs should submit one sample for each product type they intend to offer: e.g. fixed price, variable price and introductory price products. NGSs are not required to send a sample for every product offered - it is expected that NGSs will apply the feedback received to all of their Contract Summaries. We also note that, with the exception of NGSs going through the initial licensing process, it is not necessary to seek Commission review of all Contract Summaries going forward. However, NGSs are expected to apply the feedback received to future summaries." Electronic versions of the contract summaries should be submitted by July 29, 2016. The full text of the Secretarial Letter is available on the NEM Website.