The National Energy Marketers Association is pleased to announce that GE Global eXchange Services (GXS), a business unit of the General Electric Company, has joined the organization. Jason Phillips, Energy Marketing Manager, will be representing GE Global eXchange Services. GXS combines innovative Internet commerce technologies with Six Sigma quality processes to create intelligence for business supply chains around the globe. GXS focuses on four key growth areas: Internet Data Exchange, Enterprise Application Interface, Trading Partner Exchanges, and Procurement Software and Services.

The weekly conference call schedule for the Internet/Technology Subcommittees is as follows:

1. Metering Policy Development Team-Monday Mornings at 11AM Eastern Standard Time;

2. Internet Policy Development Team-Tuesday Mornings at 11 AM Eastern Standard Time; and

3. Billing Back-Office and Customer Care Policy Development Team-Wednesday Mornings 11AM Eastern Standard Time.

All members who wish to be on any of the policy teams need to advise Headquarters ASAP.

Energy Daily published the commentary of Craig Goodman, President of NEM, in an article entitled, "Energy Markets 101: Price Controls Raise Prices." The full text of the Energy Daily article is available on the NEM Website.

The Washington Post included an editorial on deregulation which generally supported NEM's position that price caps have deterred companies from building new generators which in turn has worsened the energy shortage. The full text of the Washington Post editorial is available by this hotlink.

NARUC has requested comments on its Analysis of Codes of Conduct from NEM. NEM positions that were set forth in its Uniform Code of Conduct (hotlinked here) were considered in the NARUC analysis. The full text of NARUC's Analysis of Codes of Conduct is available on the NEM Website. Member comments must be sent to Headquarters no later than August 18, 2000.

The NYISO submitted a letter to inform the Commission that it implemented a fix that it expects will correct the flaw in its Security Constrained Unit Commitment software that was causing export curtailments. The full text of the letter is available from NEM headquarters.

The NYISO has submitted a substitute Attachment F on Temporary Bid Caps to its Services Tariff to comply with the Commission's Order. The full text of substitute Attachment F as well as the redlined version of Attachment F is available on the NEM Website.

The NYISO argues it will take time to reconfigure its software to accommodate pro rata curtailment procedures. The NYISO will propose a tariff amendment that would prevent the exercise of market power when an owner of a fixed block resource is also an LSE located in an electrically isolated load zone. The full text of the NYISO's Preliminary Compliance Report is available on the NEM Website.

The Member Systems support the NYISO's argument that the temporary bid caps must be imposed on sink price bids. The full text of the Member Systems Filing in Support of the NYISO is available from NEM headquarters.

The PSC has ordered the NYISO to provide information and data to Staff, including information that is confidential under the NYISO's Open Access Transmission Tariff. The information is requested to allow the Commission and Staff to understand the interrelationship between software, market design, tariff provisions, operating rules, and bids and to assess the efficiency of the operation of the system. The full text of PSC's Order Requiring the NYISO to Provide Confidential Information is available on the NEM Website.

The procedural schedule for the Retail Access Credit Phase of the back-out rate proceeding has been set as follows:

The following NYISO Technical Bulletins have been released and are available on the NEM Website:

NYSEG requested clarification of the Commission's policy on the ownership of generating facilities by transmission and distribution companies and their affiliates and requested a ruling precluding the merger unless ConEd and its affiliates divest themselves of all electric generating facilities and ConEd's market supply charge is terminated. The full text of NYSEG's Request for Rehearing is available from NEM headquarters.

There will be a plenary meeting in the POLR proceeding on August 23-24, 2000. The presentation on August 23^rd will discuss efforts to open the competitive market in other jurisdictions and potential parallels to the telecommunications markets. The presentation on August 24^th will focus on the committees' efforts and work plans leading to the October 1 draft report.

PSE&G has filed a new Gas Service Tariff No. 12 which is effective August 1, 2000. The full text of PSE&G's Gas Service Tariff No. 12 is available on the NEM Website.

The BPU approved PSE&G's Settlement with the following modifications:

The new gas tariff that includes all rate changes required to implement the Settlement will be effective on August 1, 2000. The full text of the Board's Order Approving PSE&G's Settlement is available from NEM headquarters.

In its Order dated August 17, 1999, the BPU ordered each electric utility to make a mandatory filing no later than August 1, 2000, to demonstrate that the fees charged by the utilities to suppliers are justified based on actual costs not already collected elsewhere in stranded costs or rates. Prior to August 1, 2000, the General Supplier Administrative Fee was set at $25 per megawatt of capacity obligation per month.

In filings by PSE&G, GPU Energy, and Conectiv Power Delivery dated August 1, 2000, each utility set forth its justification for the General Supplier Administrative Fee and proposed an increase as follows:

Utility Proposed Fee Percent Increase

The BPU is expected to issue a Secretarial Letter setting September 1, 2000, as the deadline for interested parties to intervene in the proceedings. The full text of GPU's Compliance Filing, PSE&G's Compliance Filing, and Conectiv's Compliance Filing are available on the NEM Website.

Washington Gas has submitted proposed revisions to its Delivery Service Gas Supplier Agreement, Rate Schedule No. 8, with an effective date of September 1, 2000. The full text of Washington Gas's Proposed Revisions to Delivery Service Gas Supplier Agreement is available on the NEM Website.

Pepco has submitted revised pages to its Electricity Supplier Coordination Tariff for Charges for Electricity Supplier Services and Loss Factors. The full text of the Revised Pages to Pepco's Electricity Supplier Coordination Tariff is available on the NEM Website.

Pepco has completed Batch Three billing testing with Dominion. Washington Gas has elected to participate in Batch Four testing because Pepco did not certify Washington Gas when it participated in Batch Three. Testing with Batch Four suppliers will begin August 21, 2000. The full text of Pepco's EDI Status Report is available from NEM headquarters.

An April 28^th Order required Virginia Power to file terms and conditions before the start of Phase I of the Pilot Program. Virginia Power's revisions were accepted and the company made further revisions on June 30, 2000, which changed the Rate Ready Billing section of subsection K and added agreement forms for competitive service providers and trading partners. The Commission has found substantial changes to Virginia Power's tariffs beyond the terms and conditions approved for the Pilot Program, and invites comments on the proposed revisions. The full text of the Order Inviting Comments as well as Virginia Power's Revised Filing is available on the NEM Website.

Virginia Power has filed Standards of Conduct with the Commission that are meant to establish internal controls for the handling of information by employees in connection with its retail access pilot program. The full text of Virginia Power's Standards of Conduct are available on the NEM Website.

The Commission directed Staff to begin a collaborative process with Michigan Consolidated Gas Company, Consumers Energy Company, SEMCO Energy Gas Company, and all other interested persons to develop uniform terms and conditions for natural gas customer choice programs for all residential and business customers throughout the state. The Collaborative will meet on four consecutive Thursdays, beginning August 17, 2000 through September 7, 2000, to address continuing natural gas customer choice on a permanent and expanding basis, rates charged by local distribution companies, program features that affect marketers' participation in gas customer choice, and program features that affect customer participation in gas customer choice programs.

Governor Davis has written to the Commission requesting that a rate stabilization plan be devised for SDG&E ratepayers. Davis requested the plan reduce customer rates for at least the next two years in the mid-$60 range. Davis also requested that the plan allow for further reduction in consumer bills if the wholesale price of electricity declines. Davis also asked that the plan allow the utility to recover the high prices that are being charged by wholesale electricity generators. The full text of Governor Davis's Letter to the Commission is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission will meet August 21, 2000, to consider a rate stabilization plan or a rate cap in response to Governor Davis's directive. The rate stabilization plan would cap the rates for 70 percent of residential customers using less than 500 Kwh per month at a level that produces a $68 monthly bill. The plan would cap the rates for 70 percent of business customers using 1500 Kwh per month at a level that produces a $220 monthly bill. Consumption in excess of these amounts would be billed at market rates. This plan would require SDG&E to file a plan to transition customers to levelized payment plans on a default basis. The alternate proposed decision would establish interim rate caps for SDG&E through December 2003 and a balancing account for future collection of the costs. The Proposed Decision Instituting a Rate Stabilization Plan and the Proposed Decision Instituting a Rate Cap are available on the NEM Website.

The Senate passed AB 2290, a measure that would roll back electricity rates to pre-deregulation rates for SDG&E customers. The Bill will next be considered by the State Assembly. The full text of AB 2290 is available on the NEM Website.

Massachusetts Electric and Nantucket Electric have filed joint comments in the MBIS proceeding. The full text of the Comments and attachments are available on the NEM Website as follows:

NEM filed comments on LRS arguing that it must be structured as an offering for special circumstances, not a standard service. Furthermore, NEM argued the LRS service price must reflect the energy supply and commercial costs of serving retail customers and must be different for different customer classes. The full text of NEM's Comments on LRS are available on the NEM Website.