The Commission has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend the integrated resource plan procedure for long-term supply-side options. In response, Georgia Power and Savannah Electric prepared initial draft RFPs. As part of the RFPs, the utilities requested waiver of certain regulations regarding bid fees and bid evaluations. The Commission currently is hearing oral arguments about the utilities' 2004 integrated resource plans.

The Commission issued an order on the Atlanta Gas Light rate case, with certain portions of the order now subject to a limited stay pending rehearing.

Of interest, AGL's cost of service study was rejected, and AGL is required to file the cost of service study 6 months in advance of the next rate case. In addition, AGL must track throughput by class and month and initiate a rate design workshop to review alternatives to the dedicated design day capacity methodology by January 1, 2006. In addtion, AGL must meet with marketers by August 1, 2005 to consider guidelines on the release of marketer information, with a report due by October 29, 2005. Finally, comprehensive affiliate transaction guidelines for AGL will be adopted by the Commission.

The Commission has initiated a proceeding to examine issues associated with Type II Standard Offer Service (SOS). Type II SOS is generation service provided by utilities to any non-residential customer not eligible for Type I SOS whose PJM capacity peak load contribution is less than 600 kilowatts (but excluding existing utility special generation contract customers). Petitions to intervene are due June 7, 2005.

PEPCO's and Delmarva Power's new standard offer service rates become effective on June 1.

The Board is accepting comments on Atlantic City Electric Company, JCP&L, and PSEG's request to increase the transmission related charges to BGS-FP & BGS-CIEP customers. The Utilities' petition concerns the pass through and recovery of additional PJM Open Access Transmission Tariff costs that BGS Suppliers will be assessed by PJM pursuant to the Reliability Must Run charges recently approved by the FERC. Comments are due June 3, 2005.

The Commission affirmed its earlier decision that utilities cannot charge ESCOs for attempted suspensions of distribution service, and fees may only be charged for completed suspensions. Of particular note, the Commission reasoned that it had the statutory authority to determine "what constitutes a reasonable amount of compensation for utility suspensions" and "to define what is meant by the term 'suspension' in reference to that compensation." The Commission also reasoned that to permit utilities to charge for suspension attempts would create a disincentive for utilities to implement the most efficient suspension processes.

On May 19, the Commission issued a tentative order adopting Version 2.5 of the Electronic Data Exchange Standards for electricity. Comments on the tentative order are due June 8. The order will become final if there are no adverse comments.

In the tentative order, the Commission has approved the continuation of the current version of GISB EDM version 1.4 through December 30, 2006. The Commission will require a transition to the NAESB Internet ET standard by no later than Janauary 1, 2007, with a working group to be be re-convened by January 2006 in order to develop the transition process.

In addition, all licensed suppliers and all utilities must file a letter report by June 30, 2005 addressing the status of each company's compliance with the recommendation that each market participant review the theoretical security holes in GISB EDM version 1.4 and the mitigation measures taken.

The Commission has set June 27, 2005 as the due date for all parties to file reply comments on the comments to the Commission's proposed rulemaking governing provider of last resort and default service.

NEM filed comments in this proceeding and will review the other comments to determine if reply comments are necessary. NEM members should contact the NEM headquarters if you have any particular concerns.

The Pennsylvania Working Groups continue to meet to discuss the issues related to alternative energy portfolio standards, including demand side management/energy efficiency and net metering/interconnection.

A strawman was issued by the demand side management/energy efficiency working group. The Mid-Atlantic Distributed Resource Initiative (MADRI)is considered to be the best starting point for the interconnection process standards with the Commission working as part of a regional basis. The MADRI Working Group has developed preliminary draft interconnection standards, with a final model expected in mid July/early August. The interconnection working group expects to use the final model to develop comments with draft regulations submitted to the Commission in October.