The Governor signed S2395, “An Act Relative To Competitively Priced Electricity In The Commonwealth.” Under S2395, the Department is required to perform a study on the, "continuing challenges associated with the restructuring of the electric industry." "The study shall (1) analyze the effects of market manipulation within the New England electricity marketplace on electricity costs, including distribution, transmission and supply costs, since the restructuring of the electric industry; (2) analyze the effects electric power industry consolidation within the New England electricity marketplace and effects on electricity costs, including distribution, transmission and supply costs, since the restructuring of the electric industry; (3) provide a status of competition in the New England marketplace as it affects the commonwealth and detail the market share trends for generation and competitive supply of electricity since the restructuring of the electricity industry and since the termination of standard offer generation service under section 1B of chapter 164 of the General Laws and 220 CMR 11.00, including an analysis of generation market share trends for: (i) the entire New England marketplace; (ii) the commonwealth; and (iii) each of the 3 load zones within the commonwealth; (4) analyze and provide conclusions regarding the limited residential customer migration rate from basic service to competitive electricity supply including a projection of residential customer migration rates in the future; and (5) analyze the benefits of the integrated resource planning process that electric companies developed under section 69I of the General Laws prior to the restructuring of the electric industry that are not effectively or comprehensively considered within the commonwealth’s restructured electric industry, including the accurate analysis and procurement of non-transmission generation alternatives when resources are necessary for electricity reliability.

The department shall make specific legislative and regulatory recommendations to reincorporate state or utility scale integrated resource planning, under this section, and report findings to the joint committee on telecommunications, utilities and energy not later than July 15, 2013."

The Department must also open an investigation into the need for additional capapcity in the NEMA (Northeastern Massachusetts/Boston load zone) region in the next ten years. S2395 requires utilities to solicit proposals for renewable energy generation and to enter into additional "cost-effective" long term contracts to facilitate renewable energy generation financing. It also establishes an energy policy review commission to examine the economic and cost implications of energy and electricity policies in Massachusetts. The full text of S2395 is available on the NEM Website.

NYSEG filed a Report of its Gas Supply Collaborative with the Commission as was required in its last rate case. In the Report NYSEG requests the Commission approve the following proposals:

"• Consolidate the remaining two NYSEG GSAs into a single GSA effective September 1, 2013, which coincides with the gas year for gas supply charge reconciliation purposes. The GSA consolidation will apply to the Gas Supply Charge (“GSC”), Merchant Function Charge (“MFC”), Transition Surcharge (“TS”) and Reliability Surcharge. Transportation Balancing Charges will be consolidated over a phase-in period beginning September 1, 2013 and concluding April 1, 2014.
• Consistent with the proposal to consolidate into a single GSA, adopt a system-wide WACOC for the release of capacity to ESCOs. The WACOC release will be accomplished over a phase-in period beginning April 1, 2013 and concluding April 1, 2014.
• Amend the NYSEG and RG&E tariffs to clarify the Companies’ right to collect incremental upstream pipeline costs beyond the 10% balancing threshold.
• Separately identify balancing charges on NYSEG interruptible sales service customer pricing offers and implement auto-balancing for daily metered cashout calculations.
• Provide an update regarding changes to the Companies’ capacity portfolio during the semi-annual Gas Marketers Operating Group (“GMOG”) meetings."

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