NEM submitted comments on Staff's proposed consumer protection regulations for customers of gas and electric suppliers. NEM recommended that wet signatures should not be required for telephonic enrollment. In order to satisfy the state's telephonic solicitation law on the matter, the Commission should publish on its website and in a bill insert the names, addresses and phone numbers of energy suppliers qualified to do business in the state. The Commission should also permit independent third party verification of the material terms of the contract, or in the alternative, competitive suppliers publication of their offerings including all restrictions in print or broadcast media that reach a reasonably-sized general circulation, in a mailing or on their website should be sufficient.

NEM also recommended that: 1) suppliers should be permitted to use third party verification or tape recording but not be required to tape the entire conversation; 2) suppliers should only be required to issue a single notice of cancellation period; and 3) the payment allocation order should be modified such that payments are applied first to the consumables portion of the bill, then to the non-consumables portion, and finally based on the age of the receivable. In the alternative, NEM urged the utilities purchase of supplier receivables and noted its general support for pro-ration of payments on consolidated bills. The full text of NEM's Comments is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission examined whether the return component of the various Administrative Charges for Standard Offer Service (SOS) were subject to tax gross up. If so, it would have had the effect of increasing the size of the credits incorporated into the retail rates determined in the recent bids to supply power for SOS. The Commission decided that the Administrative Charge should not be grossed up for income taxes as it was not the original intent of the SOS agreement settling parties. The full text of the Commission's Decision is available on the NEM Website.

The Board adopted Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) rules that permit the option of an alternative compliance payment as a means of RPS compliance, in order to mitigate unreasonable Renewable Energy Certificate prices possibly caused by an unforeseen lack of supply or exertion of market power. The full text of the Adopted Rules are available on the NEM Website.

The Board also proposed changes to the RPS rules including: 1) providing a limited waiver for holders of 34-month supply obligations, committed to through the 2003 basic generation service (BGS) auction, and applying the RPS requirements in effect at the time of the 2003 auction to those supply obligations; 2) adjusting the RPS percentage requirements for the years following the expiration of the 34-month supply obligations, to compensate for the renewable energy that would have been supplied absent the limited waiver; 3) restricting the issuance of solar Renewable Energy Certificates to energy generated at a facility directly connected to a distribution system supplying New Jersey; and 4) authorizing the Board to adopt a different tracking system than the PJM Generation Attribute Tracking System (GATS) if necessary. Comments are due June 4, 2004. The full text of the Proposed Rules is available on the NEM Website.

Staff has submitted testimony on CG&E's Rate Stabilization Plan. Staff contends that a Rate Stabilization Plan is desirable under current market conditions. However, echoing NEM's concerns, Staff finds fault with a number of CG&E's proposals. Staff argues that CG&E's proposed competitive bidding process is anti-competitive. With respect to CG&E's proposed Market Based Standard Service Offer (MBSSO), Staff maintains that CG&E inappropriately uses the MBSSO as a vehicle for offering competitive retail electric service. Staff argues that: 1) the market price adjustment tracker could result in CG&E pricing behavior that is anti-competitive; 2) the flex down adjustment option could create a ceiling and a floor price range that is lower than the standard "fully cost-loaded MBSSO product" and would be anti-competitive; 3) CG&E should be required to publicly post relevant retail price information that is needed by competitive suppliers, at no charge, to allow competitive suppliers to compete against the company's MBSSO; 4) the MBSSO contains too many differentiated services, making it difficult for competitors to offer value-added products. The full text of Staff's Testimony is available on the NEM Website.

Many thanks to NEM's Midwest Policy Team -Mark Radtke of WPS Energy Services, Phil O'Connor of Constellation NewEnergy, Dowell Hudson of Ontario Power Generation, Scott White of Interstate Gas Supply and Harry Kingerski of Shell Energy Services - for their assistance with this and other Ohio proceedings.

PECO Energy Company issued an RFP to find an alternative to its Dominion GSS Storage Contract effective April 1, 2006. The RFP is to provide all or a part of storage service for a five year term and is open to Pennsylvania-licensed natural gas suppliers. Proposals are due May 7, 2004. The full text of the RFP is available on the NEM Website.

Staff is requesting comments from stakeholders on facilitating competition in Virginia to be used in the Commission's annual report to the legislature and Governor on electric utility restructuring. Staff explained that, "because of recent legislation, pending dockets before the Commission, and the continued lack of competitive activity we are not asking any specific questions at this time. Rather, we invite and encourage anyone to take this opportunity to submit in writing any commentary regarding national, regional, or Virginia restructuring efforts, policies, activities, or events." Comments are due May 24, 2004, and reply comments are due June 4, 2004. The full text of Staff's Request for Comments is available on the NEM Website.