The Public Utility Commission this week finalized regulations that will establish reporting requirements to facilitate measurement of the development of Pennsylvania’s competitive retail electric supply market.

The Commission voted 5-0 to adopt requirements for electric distribution companies and electric generation supplies to report on electric supply activity. The reports will provide specific data that will facilitate commission efforts to monitor customer switching from the EDC to the EGS for electric generation supply, as well as customer preference for other products and services such as real time or time of use service.

The reports will provide the commission with information needed to fulfill its duties under the 1996 Electricity Generation Customer Choice and Competition Act.

The act charged the commission with monitoring sales activity and conducting milestone reviews of the development of the state’s retail market for the supply and distribution of electricity. The commission can also take steps to prevent anticompetitive or discriminatory conduct and the unlawful exercise of market power.

The reports will collect data on residential, industrial and commercial rate classes and will include total sales of both EDCs and EGSs and total customers. EDCs will be required to file quarterly reports while EGSs will file annually. The reports will be available to the public.

The rulemaking now goes before the state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission, the Office of Attorney General, the Governor’s Budget Office and the standing committees in both houses of the General Assembly for review. Once that review is completed, the regulations would become final once published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

Visit the PUC’s Electric Choice webpage for more information.

8/8/2008