The Commission has initiated a rulemaking proceeding to develop rules regarding municipal aggregation to implement provisions of the Illinois Power Agency Act and the Public Utilities Act. The rulemaking stems from Staff recommendations made in the course of ComEd's Rate GAP tariff proceeding, pertaining to participants in municipal aggregation programs. Staff submitted a report to the Commission with an illustrative list of issues that a rulemaking proceeding could examine including:

1)disclosure requirements applicable to suppliers winning a municipal aggregation contract;
2) the feasibility of requiring winning suppliers in an aggregation to reveal to the Commission how the bidding process was conducted and to provide a copy of the successful bid;
3) the appropriate means of identifying existing municipal aggregation customers when a municipality wants to pursue a new round of opt-out aggregation;
4) whether the electric utility has a legal obligation to provide the account numbers for customers in an opt-in aggregation;
5) establishing guidelines for the mailing of opt-out and opt-in aggregation program notices;
6) whether aggregation suppliers should be required to provide information to the Commission regarding terms and conditions of the aggregation programs that they are operating; and
7) whether there should be guidelines for suppliers marketing to customers in communities with opt-out aggregation programs.

The Commission agreed that the issues identified by Staff should be explored in the rulemaking proceeding. The full texts of the Initiating Order and Staff Report are available on the NEM Website.

Pursuant to a Hearing Examiner request, the electric utilities filed a letter report on the status of POR settlement negotiations. All of the utilities report that they have engaged in discussions with competitive suppliers. Unitil maintains that it cannot implement POR until after it has installed a new billing system, which is expected to be completed in 18 to 24 months after the contract is awarded later this year. National Grid notes its plan to answer remaining settlement questions and participate in a meeting with suppliers to discuss next steps. NSTAR and WMECo stated that the terms of a recent settlement agreement between their companies requires an examination of the extent to which their business functions can be harmonized, including with respect to POR. That review is currently taking place. In addition, NSTAR and WMECo commit to continue discussions with suppliers and provide a further update by mid-August. The full text of the Utilities Filing is available from NEM headquarters.

The electric utilities have requested that the Board grant them an extension on the due date for the SREC Annual Reports for two months to December 1, 2012. The law recently changed with respect to solar renewable energy requirements in the State. The utilities explain, "during Energy Year 2012, when some electricity supply will be exempt, the exempted incremental solar obligation must be distributed among the non-exempt electricity supplied. The Board’s renewable energy portfolio regulations (i.e., N.J.A.C. 14:8-2.3) set forth a methodology for distributing the exempt incremental solar obligation among the non-exempt electricity supplied. According to N.J.A.C. 14:8-2.3(n), the critical first step in calculating a Supplier’s solar obligation is to determine said Supplier's market share of the total non-exempt electricity supplied statewide during the applicable energy year ("Total Non-Exempt Supply"). . . . Once all sales and obligation data are final the Suppliers are required to purchase the proper number of solar renewable energy certificates ("SRECs") to cover their obligations. Until the final obligations are known, Suppliers will remain unsure as to the number of SRECs they are required to obtain. Moreover, the inability of Suppliers to finalize their arrangements to comply with their solar obligations also serves to impede and delay the EDCs ability to complete and submit the Annual Reports to the Board." The full text of the Electric Utilities Filing is available on the NEM Website.