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65 - INDEPENDENT AGENCIES - REGULATORY
407
- PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
CHAPTER
306 - UNIFORM INFORMATION DISCLOSURE
AND INFORMATIONAL FILING REQUIREMENTS
SUMMARY:
This Chapter contains requirements for competitive electricity providers to
disclose price, contract, resource mix, and emissions information to customers
in a uniform format. The Chapter also
contains requirements for informational filings by competitive providers.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
§ 1 DEFINITIONS
.................................................................................................... 4
§ 2 UNIFORM INFORMATION DISCLOSURE
REQUIREMENTS .......................... 5
A. Purpose
and Scope
................................................................................. 5
1. Purpose
........................................................................................ 5
2.
Scope
........................................................................................... 5
3.
Applicability …………………………………………………………….6
B. Information
Disclosure Label
................................................................... 5
1. General
......................................................................................... 5
2. Customer Information
.................................................................... 5
3. Resource Portfolio
..........................................................................5
a. Determining the resource portfolio
...................................... 6
b. Label reporting period .........................................................
6
c. Portfolio characteristics
...................................................... 6
d. Disaggregation of resource portfolio
....................................7
4. Fuel Mix ..........................................................................................7
5. Emissions
.......................................................................................8
6. Format of Information Disclosure
Label ........................................ 8
7. Standard Offer Service
.................................................................. 8
C. Company
Disclosure.................................................................................
8
D. Terms
of Service Document......................................................................
8
1. General...........................................................................................
8
2. Contents.........................................................................................
8
E. Distribution
of Disclosure Label.................................................................
9
1. Prior to Initiation of Service
............................................................ 9
2. After Initiation of Service
..............……..........................................10
3. Upon request
...............................................................................
10
4. Standard offer service
................................................................. 10
5. Competitive provider service
........................................................10
F. Information
Disclosure in Advertising ..................................................... 10
G. Enforcement............................................................................................ 10
H. Verification;
Annual Reporting
................................................................ 11
1. Provider Obligation
...................................................................... 11
2. Verification Method
.......................................................................11
3. Annual Reports
............................................................................ 11
4. Additional Information
.................................................................. 12
5. Audits
...........................................................................................
12
6. Rejection of Certificates
................................................................12
7. Generation Facilities
.....................................................................12
8. Confidentiality
..............................................................................
12
§ 3 INFORMATIONAL FILINGS..............................................................................
12
A. Generally
Available Service
.................................................................... 12
1. Filing Required
.............................................................................
12
2. Modification
..................................................................................
12
3. No Approval
.................................................................................
12
B. Individual
Service Contracts ...................................................................
13
C. Additional
Information
.............................................................................
13
D. Disclosure
Labels
...................................................................................
13
§ 4 WAIVER OR EXEMPTION
...............................................................................
13
§ 1 DEFINITIONS
A. Aggregate. "Aggregate" means to organize
individual electricity consumers into a group or entity for the purpose of
purchasing electricity on a group basis.
B. Aggregator. "Aggregator" means an entity that
gathers individual customers together for the purpose of purchasing
electricity, provided such entity is not engaged in the purchase or resale of
electricity directly with a competitive electricity provider, and provided
further that such customers contract for electricity directly with a
competitive electricity provider.
C. Broker. "Broker" means an entity that acts
as an agent or intermediary in the sale and purchase of electricity but that
does not take title to electricity, provided such entity is not engaged in the
purchase or resale of electricity directly with a competitive electricity
provider, and provided further that such customers contract for electricity directly
with a competitive electricity provider.
D. Commission. "Commission" means the Maine
Public Utilities Commission.
E. Competitive
Electricity Provider.
"Competitive electricity provider" means a marketer, broker,
aggregator, and any entity selling electricity to the public at retail.
F. Customer. "Customer" means any person who
has applied for, been accepted or is
receiving generation service from a competitive electricity provider for retail
use. This term includes an applicant to
a competitive electricity provider when the context so indicates.
G. Generation
Service. "Generation
service" means the provision of electric power to a retail customer
through a transmission and distribution utility but does not encompass any
activity related to the transmission or distribution of that power.
H. GIS. “GIS” means the NEPOOL Generation Information System or successor
system.
I. GIS
Certificates. “GIS certificates”
mean certificates created pursuant to the NEPOOL Generation Information System
that represent attributes of electric power and that may be traded separately
from the energy commodity.
J. ISO-NE. "ISO-NE" means the Independent
System Operator of the New England bulk power system or successor organization
K. ISO-NE
Control Area. “ISO-NE control area”
means the area in which the ISO-NE operates the New England bulk power system.
L. Maritimes
Control Area. "Maritimes
control area" means the area in which the New Brunswick Power Corporation
operates the Maritimes bulk power system.
M. Residential
and Small Commercial Customers.
“Residential and small commercial customers” means customers subject to
the consumer protection provisions in Chapter 305, section 4 of the
Commission’s rules.
N. Standard
Offer Provider. “Standard Offer Provider" means a provider of standard
offer service chosen pursuant to Chapter 301 of the Commission's rules.
O. Transmission
and distribution utility.
"Transmission and distribution utility" means a person, its
lessees, trustees, receivers or trustees appointed by a court, owning,
controlling, operating or managing a transmission and distribution plant for
compensation within the State.
§ 2 UNIFORM INFORMATION DISCLOSURE
REQUIREMENTS
A. Purpose
and Scope
1. Purpose. The purpose of this section is to ensure
that customers are presented with consistent, accurate, and meaningful
information by which to evaluate services offered by competitive electricity
providers.
2. Scope. This section applies to competitive electricity providers, including
standard offer providers, as specified in this section, except that this
section does not apply to aggregators and brokers.
3. Applicability. This section applies only to generation
service to residential and small commercial consumers. For purposes of this provision, residential
and small commercial consumers are consumers subject to the customer protection
provisions in Chapter 305, section 4 of the Commission’s rules. Upon the request of customers that are not
residential or small commercial customers, competitive electricity providers
shall provide information comparable to that required by this section.
B. Information
Disclosure Label
1. General. Each competitive electricity provider shall
prepare information on a label for each price or product offering in a form
that is consistent for all competitive electricity providers. The label shall present information in
accordance with this subsection, and shall conform to all applicable state
rules and regulations. The label shall
be distributed in accordance with section 2(E).
2. Customer Information. The label
shall contain a toll-free number of the competitive electricity provider for
customer inquiries regarding the information displayed on the label. The competitive electricity provider
customer representatives must have sufficient knowledge of the contents of the
label to respond to reasonable customer inquiries.
3. Resource Portfolio. The label shall contain information on the
fuel mix and emissions characteristics associated with the competitive
electricity provider's resource portfolio.
a. Determining the resource portfolio. Unless otherwise specified in this Chapter,
for service within the ISO-NE control area, the resource portfolio of a
competitive electricity provider shall be determined based on GIS
certificates. For purposes of this
provision, each competitive provider shall have a Maine GIS sub-account. For service within the Maritimes control
area, the resource portfolio of a competitive electricity provider shall be
determined using market settlement data or other relevant market data, that match generating resources of a
provider to the load obligation of that provider no less frequently than on a
12-month basis. For purposes of this
section, a competitive electricity provider must combine resources used for
service in the ISO-NE control area and the Maritimes control area into a single
resource portfolio unless the provider disaggregates its resource portfolio
pursuant to section 2(B)(4)(d).
b.
Label reporting period. The label reporting period shall be
stated on the label. Except as
otherwise provided, the label reporting period shall be the most recent 12-month period for which the necessary
information is available.. If a
competitive electricity provider has not operated in Maine for a long enough
period to have 12-months of the necessary information available, but has
operated such that more than 3-months of necessary information is available,
the reporting period shall be the period for which the necessary information is
available. If a competitive electricity
provider has not operated in Maine for a long enough period to have more than
3-months of necessary information available, the competitive electricity
provider shall report a reasonable projection of the resource portfolio and
associated emissions characteristics that will be used to serve load in Maine
over the following 12-month period.
c. Portfolio characteristics. For service within the ISO-NE control area,
fuel mix and emission characteristics shall be determined based on GIS
certificates. For service within the
Maritimes control area, fuel mix and emission characteristics shall be those
associated with generating units for unit specific entitlements or contracts
and the system mix for system entitlements or contracts.
d. Disaggregation of resource portfolio. A competitive electricity provider may
disaggregate its resource portfolio into segments or products and provide
differentiated labels to particular customer groups. For service within the ISO-NE control area, a competitive
electricity provider must verify the disaggregation through a separate GIS
sub-account for the disaggregated segment or product. For service within the Maritimes control area, a competitive
electricity provider shall be required to demonstrate to the Commission’s
satisfaction that its disaggregation is based on data that can be verified.
4. Fuel Mix. Each competitive electricity provider shall
include on the label a list of each fuel sources in its resource portfolio and
their corresponding percentages within the fuel mix. The labels shall identify and separately display those fuel
sources that are eligible resources pursuant to Chapter 311 of the Commission’s
rules. The following fuel sources shall be separately identified on the label:
biomass (includes landfill gas), coal, fossil fuel cogeneration, fuel cells,
geothermal, hydro, municipal solid waste, natural gas, nuclear, oil, solar,
tidal power, wind. The fuel mix shall
be displayed in a format substantially similar to the sample label attached to
this Chapter. The Director of Technical
Analysis may authorize deviations from this provision.
5. Emissions
a. The following emissions shall be
separately identified on the label: carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen
oxides (NOx), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). The Commission may determine by order that
additional emissions should be included on the label.
b. Emissions for each emission category
shall be computed as an annual average emission rate in pounds per
megawatt-hour over the label reporting period.
For each emission category, the emission rate of the resource portfolio
shall be compared to a reference emission rate. For service within the ISO-NE control area, the reference
emission rate shall be the New England regional average emission rate as
determined by the GIS. For service
within the Maritimes control area, the reference emission rate shall be the
regional average emission rate in the Maritimes control area. In the event this emission rate is not
readily available, the New England regional average emission rate as determined
by the GIS may be used.
c. Unless otherwise specified in this
Chapter, for service within the ISO-NE control area, the emission
characteristics of the resource portfolio shall be determined based on GIS
certificates. For service within the
Maritimes control area, the emission characteristics of the resource portfolio
shall be calculated using the most accurate available data.
d. The Commission may determine by Order
that CO2 emitted by individual facilities or categories of
facilities may be offset so that lower emission amounts or zero emissions may
be displayed on the label.
6. Format of Information Disclosure
Label. The label shall be presented
in a format substantially similar to the sample label attached to this
Chapter.
7. Standard Offer Service. Each transmission and distribution utility
shall prepare labels associated with standard offer service within its service
territory. In the event there is more
than one standard offer provider in a service territory, power source and air
emissions information on the label shall be blended so that a single label is
prepared. For this purpose, the label information shall be the weighted average
of each provider’s power sources and air emissions. The weights used shall be each provider’s percentage of standard
offer load. Transmission and
distribution utilities shall charge standard offer providers for the costs of
preparing the label pursuant to Commission approved rates.
C. Company
Disclosure
Each competitive
electricity provider that disaggregates its resource portfolio into price or
product offerings pursuant to this section, shall prepare a company disclosure
that aggregates the resource portfolio of all its price or product offerings
within the ISO-NE or Maritimes control area, as applicable. The company disclosure shall contain the
aggregated information in a form substantially similar to the "power
sources" and "air emissions" portion of the label attached to
this Chapter. The company disclosure
shall explain in plain language why the aggregate information is different from
that of the customer's price or product offering. The company disclosure report shall be provided to customers upon
request. The competitive electricity
provider shall notify customers of the availability of the company disclosure
as part of the label information.
D. Terms
of Service Document
1. General. Each competitive electricity provider that
provides service to residential and small commercial customers shall prepare
and distribute a document entitled “Terms of Service” as described in this
section. The Terms of Service document
shall be distributed according to the provisions of the Commission's customer
protection rules, Chapter 305 § 4(B).
The provisions of this subsection do not apply to standard offer
service.
2. Contents. The Terms of Service document shall contain
the following information:
a. Actual pricing structure according to
which the retail customer will be billed, including an explanation of price
variability and price level adjustments that can cause the price to vary;
b. Duration and kind of contract;
c. Due dates of bills and consequences of
late payment, including the amount of any late payment fee, interest, or
finance charge assessed for late payment;
d. Conditions under which a credit
reporting agency is contacted for an applicant's credit history or under which
the provider reports the customer's payment history to a credit reporting
agency;
e. Deposit requirements and interest on
deposits;
f. Limits on warranty and damages;
g. Any and all charges, fees, and
penalties;
h. Information on estimated bills,
third-party billing, deferred payments, if applicable to the customer's
generation service;
i. A conspicuous disclosure of the
customer's five business day right of rescission of the contract without
penalty, how this right may be exercised, and how to contact the provider
orally, electronically or in writing to exercise this right;
j. A toll-free number for customer
complaints and the hours the customer can contract the provider for questions
or complaints;
k. A generic description of the standard
offer generation service;
l. How the retail customer will be
notified of changes to items in the Terms of Service;
m. Notice that the contract may be assigned
or transferred to another competitive electricity provider without the
customer's consent, if applicable;
n. The existence of the "Do-Not-Call"
list and how a customer can get on the list; and
o. A statement on how a customer may
contact the Commission to obtain information on consumer protection rights.
E. Distribution
of Disclosure Label
1. Prior to Initiation of Service. Each competitive electricity provider shall
provide the label to customers prior to the initiation of service. This provision does not apply to standard
offer service.
2. After Initiation of Service. Each competitive electricity provider that
provides generation service to residential and small commercial customers shall
provide labels to those customers once each calendar quarter. Competitive electricity providers may
provide labels to all its customers at the same time.
3. Upon request. The label shall be available upon request to
any person eligible to obtain the associated service.
4. Standard offer service. Each transmission and distribution utility
shall distribute to standard offer customers the labels associated with
standard offer service within their service territory. The labels shall be provided to residential
and small commercial standard offer customers within 3 months after the
initiation of standard offer service by a new standard offer provider and at 3
month intervals thereafter. The labels
shall be provided to customers that are not residential and small commercial
customers within 3 months after the initiation of standard offer service by a
new standard offer provider and annually thereafter. Transmission and distribution utilities shall charge standard
offer providers for the costs of distributing the label pursuant to Commission
approved rates, terms and conditions.
5. Competitive provider service. The Commission by order may require that
each transmission and distribution utility, upon the request of a competitive
electricity provider, prepare and distribute labels associated with generation
service within their service territory.
Transmission and distribution utilities shall charge competitive
electricity providers for the costs of preparing and distributing the label
pursuant to Commission approved rates, terms and conditions.
F. Information
Disclosure in Advertising
A competitive
electricity provider shall state the availability of the disclosure label prepared
pursuant to this section in a prominent position in all written marketing
materials promoting available generation service, including direct mail
materials, newspaper, magazine, and other written advertisements, and in all
electronically-published advertising including Internet materials. Where available generation services are
marketed in non-print media, the marketing materials shall indicate that the
customer may obtain the disclosure label upon request. Any competitive electricity provider website
that promotes the availability of generation service must also contain access
to the disclosure label.
G. Enforcement
Dissemination of
inaccurate information, or failure to comply with the Commission’s regulations
on information disclosure, may result in suspension or revocation of the
competitive electricity provider's license or other sanctions in accordance
with Chapter 305 § 3.
H. Verification; Annual Reporting
1. Provider Obligation. Each competitive electricity provider has
the obligation to verify compliance with the provisions of this section.
2. Verification Method. Beginning with service in the year 2002,
competitive electricity providers must verify compliance with this Chapter as
specified in this provision.
a. ISO-NE Control
Area. Beginning in the year 2002,
competitive electricity providers that serve customers in the ISO-NE control
area, must verify the accuracy of the label information through GIS
certificates. For purposes of
compliance with this provision, all competitive electricity providers must have
at least one Maine GIS sub‑account.
The Commission may allow verification through means other than GIS
certificates upon a showing that a competitive electricity provider reasonably
relied on the Commission’s prior rules or for other good cause. Entities that have purchased the contractual
rights to the output of transmission and distribution utility qualifying
facility entitlements that have not been provided associated GIS certificates
may use the contractual rights to the output of the entitlements to verify the
accuracy of label information.
b. Maritimes Control Area. Competitive electricity providers that serve
customers in the Maritimes control area must verify the accuracy of the label
information through market settlement data and other documentation that reveal
the resources used to serve customers and the emission characteristics of those
resources.
3. Annual
Reports. On or before July 1 of
each year, each competitive electricity provider shall submit an annual report
that contains information that supports the accuracy of disclosure labels
provided over the prior calendar year.
At a minimum, the annual report must include the following information
for the prior calendar year:
a. Copies of disclosure labels provided to
customers during the reporting period.
b. Reports from the GIS Administrator for
service in the ISO-NE control area.
c. A description of the resources used to
serve customers in the Maritimes control area and information verifying the
accuracy of the resource portfolio and the emission characteristics associated
with the resource portfolio.
d. Verification of the accuracy of the
disaggregation of the company resource portfolio into segments or products, if
applicable.
4. Additional Information. The Commission may at any time request and
obtain information from a competitive electricity provider that the Commission
determines is needed to verify the accuracy of the information contained on
disclosure labels.
5. Audits. The Commission may at any time conduct an
audit of any competitive electricity provider to verify the accuracy of the
information contained on disclosure labels.
Upon request by the Commission, a competitive electricity provider must
provide any information that the Commission determines is needed to conduct the
audit and verify compliance with this section.
6. Rejection of Certificates. The Commission may reject the use of certain
GIS certificates for purposes of disclosure label information if it finds that
the GIS certificates do not reflect accurate information, to avoid the double
counting of electricity attributes or for other good cause.
7. Generation Facilities. The Commission may at any time conduct an
investigation into whether GIS certificates represent accurate
information. The Commission may request
and obtain information from generation facilities that the Commission
determines is needed to verify the accuracy of information contained on a
disclosure label. The Commission may reject
the use of GIS certificates pursuant to section 2(H)(6) of this Chapter if
a generation facility does not comply with an information request made pursuant
to this provision.
8. Confidentiality. The Commission may subject any information
required pursuant to this subsection to appropriate protective orders.
§ 3 INFORMATIONAL FILINGS
A. Generally
Available Service
1. Filing Required. Competitive electricity providers must file
with the Commission rates, terms, and conditions of any service generally
available to the public or any segment of the public prior to offering the
service. This subsection does not apply
to standard offer service.
2. Modification. Competitive electricity providers must file
any modifications to generally available rates, terms and conditions prior to
the effective date of the modification.
3. No Approval. The generally available rates, terms and
conditions are for informational purposes and do not require Commission
approval.
B. Individual Service Contracts
Competitive electricity
providers are not required to file individual service contracts. The Commission
may at any time request and obtain individual service contracts from
competitive electricity providers. The
Commission may subject individual service contracts to appropriate protective
orders.
C. Additional
Information
The Commission may at
any time request and obtain information from competitive electricity providers
that the Commission determines is necessary or useful in carrying out its duties
and obligations under Title 35-A, Chapter 32.
The Commission may subject such information to appropriate protective
orders.
D. Disclosure
Labels
Competitive electricity
providers must file with the Commission updated disclosure labels that are required
to be provided to customers pursuant to section 2 of this Chapter.
§ 4 WAIVER OR EXEMPTION
Upon the request of any person
subject to the provisions of this Chapter or upon its own motion, the
Commission may, for good cause, waive any of the requirements of this Chapter
that are not required by statute. The
waiver may not be inconsistent with the purposes of this Chapter or Title
35-A. The Commission, the Director of Technical
Analysis, or the Presiding Officer assigned to a proceeding related to this
Chapter may grant the waiver.
BASIS
STATEMENT: The factual and policy
basis for this rule is set forth in the Commission's Order Adopting Final Rule,
Docket No. 2004-728, issued on June 21, 2005; Order Provisionally Adopting
Rule and Statement of Factual and Policy Basis, Docket No, 2005-728, issued on
March 8, 2005; Order Adopting Final Rule, Docket No. 2002-580, issued on
June 18, 2003; Order Provisionally Adopting Rule and Statement of Factual
and Policy Basis, Docket No. 2002-580, issued on February 14, 2003; and Order
Adopting Rule and Statement of Policy Basis, Docket No. 2000-336, issued
on May 1, 2000; Order Finally Adopting Rule, Docket No. 98-708, issued on
June 29, 1999; and Order Provisionally Adopting Rule and Statement of Factual
and Policy Basis, Docket No. 98-708, issued on February 13, 1999; Order
Provisionally Adopting Rule, issued on March 8, 2005. Copies of the Statement and Order have been filed with this rule
at the Office of the Secretary of State.
Copies may also be obtained from the Administrative Director, Public
Utilities Commission, 242 State Street, 18 State House Station, Augusta,
Maine 04333-0018.
AUTHORITY: 35-A M.R.S.A. §§ 104, 111, 1301,
3203(3), 3203(4); P.L. 1997, ch. 316, § 4, Resolves 1999, ch. 34; Resolves
2003, ch. 46; Resolves 2005, ch. 57.
EFFECTIVE
DATE: This rule was approved as to form and
legality by the Attorney General on 6-24-05. It was filed with the Secretary of State on 6-27-05 and will be effective on 7-27-05.
