NEM submitted comments to the Commission urging it to reject a motion by CPV requesting that the Commission require one or more Maryland investor-owned utilities to enter into long-term contracts with CPV for all of the capacity and energy from a proposed CPV generating facility. In the alternative, CPV requested that the Commission itself negotiate a contract with CPV on behalf of an investor-owned utility. NEM noted its concern about the significant negative impact on retail choice of the long-term, twenty-year investor-owned utility contracting suggested by CPV’s Motion. NEM argued that CPV is attempting to get through regulation what it was unable to accomplish competitively, thus shifting all the risks of its proposed generation project from investors to Maryland’s consumers. The restructuring of the natural gas and electricity industries was initiated in large part because the historical cost-of-service approach to energy supply and demand facilitated a steady increase in the costs for energy to the ultimate consumer, even in times of declining natural gas wellhead prices. Past experience with the historical cost-of-service approach to energy supply facilitated a steady increase in consumers’ energy rates because of generation construction cost overruns and inefficient operation of plants. It was recognized that regulated rates are a poor proxy for the efficiencies, innovations and potential price savings yielded by competitive markets. Competitive market participants are in the best position to control supply-related risks, and they do so without the requisite guaranteed return of and return on utility investments, all risks that CPV is proposing to be borne by captive ratepayers. The full text of NEM's Comments is available on the NEM Website.

The State Energy Planning Board released a Draft 2009 State Energy Plan. The draft Plan is focused on achieving five policy objectives, including reliable energy and transportation systems; reduction of greenhouse gases; address energy affordability; reduction of health and environmental risks associated with energy production and usage; and improve state energy independence and fuel diversity.

Amongst the noteworthy recommendations of the draft Plan are:

"PSC should be authorized to require that electricity be priced on a time of use basis for all customers, upon a finding that it is in the public interest to do so. Issues that should be considered in making that determination include: the practical hardships and difficulties related to implementing time of use rates for residential customers, and possible means to mitigate any such hardships; and alternative rate regimes, based on voluntary participation of residential customers.

The State should broaden the installation of advanced meters and implementation of mandatory hourly pricing for industrial and commercial customers by continuing to reduce the demand thresholds. PSC and State energy authorities should evaluate and aggressively support
implementation of demand response measures where cost-effective and environmentally beneficial.

The State should continue to implement rate structures and metering requirements for nonresidential customers that encourage use of electricity at off-peak hours and/or encourage control of daily electric load."

Written comments on the draft Plan must be submitted by October 9, 2009. The full text of the Draft Energy Plan is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission adopted measures intended to remove barriers to a competitive retail electric market in the PPL service territory, with the pending expiration of rate caps on December 31, 2009. "[T]he Commission felt it was important that [PPL's] market contain competitive alternatives, that its customers are aware of these competitive alternatives and that no barriers exist to prevent EGS entry into the market."

Measures addressed by the Commission include:

Customer information databases;
Data access through standardized EDI transactions for post validation, estimation and editing (VEE) data;
Bill ready and rate ready options;
Timely EDI testing;
Implementation of purchase of receivables by January 2010;
Customer awareness and education programs;
Commitments to a process for development of a uniform supplier tariff;
An ombudsman for supplier issues; and
PPL costs of competition related activities.

The Commission also decided that customer referral programs, provisions for billing services not covered by purchase of receivables programs, and customer shopping education efforts by EDCs and the Commission should be referred to the Retail Market Working Group for further consideration.

The Commission also noted that the measures adopted for PPL will serve as the starting point in proceedings regarding other utilities. The full text of the PPL Order is available on the NEM Website.