PROPOSED RULEMAKING
[52 PA. CODE CH. 54]
[28 Pa.B. 518] [L-970130]
Reporting Requirements for Universal Service and Energy Conservation Programs The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (Commission) on December 4, 1997, adopted a proposed rulemaking to establish standard reporting requirements for universal service and energy conservation programs. The data collected as a result of the reporting requirements will assist the Commission in monitoring the progress of the electric distribution companies (EDC) in achieving universal service in its service territory. The reporting requirements will ensure that the data is reported uniformly and consistently. The contact persons are Janice K. Hummel, Bureau of Consumer Services (technical) (717) 783-9088 and Kathryn G. Sophy, Law Bureau (legal) (717) 772-8839.
Executive Summary
On December 3, 1996, Governor Tom Ridge signed into law 66 Pa.C.S. §§ 2801--2812 (relating to Electricity Generation Customer Choice and Competition Act) (act). The act revised 66 Pa.C.S. (relating to Public Utility Code), by inter alia, adding Chapter 28, relating to restructuring of the electric utility industry. The act is clear in its intent that the EDCs are to continue, at a minimum, the protections, policies and services that now assist customers who are low-income to afford electric service. Section 2804(9) of the act (relating to standards for restructuring of electric industry) requires the Commission to ensure that universal service and energy conservation policies, activities and services are appropriately funded and available in each electric distribution territory.
The purpose of this proposed rulemaking is to establish standard reporting requirements for universal service and energy conservation programs. The data collected as a result of the reporting requirements will assist the Commission in monitoring the progress of the EDCs in achieving universal service in their service territories. The reporting requirements will also ensure that the data is reported uniformly and consistently.
This proposal establishes that the EDCs will report the following information to the Commission: 1) annual reports on residential low-income collections and universal service and energy conservation programs; 2) biennial (every 2 years) plans for universal service and energy conservation programs; 3) every 6 years an independent third-party evaluation that measures the degree that an EDC's universal service and energy conservation programs are working to provide affordable utility service at reasonable rates.
Regulatory Review
Under section 5(a) of the Regulatory Review Act (71 P. S. § 745.5(a)), on January 16, 1998, the Commission submitted a copy of this proposed rulemaking to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) and to the Chairpersons of the House Committee on Consumer Affairs and the Senate Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure. In addition to submitting this proposed rulemaking, the Commission has provided IRRC and the Committees with a copy of a detailed Regulatory Analysis Form prepared by the Commission in compliance with Executive Order 1996-1. A copy of this material is available to the public upon request.
If the Legislative Committees have objections to any portion of the proposed rulemaking, they will notify the Commission within 20 days of the close of the public comment period. If IRRC has objections to any portion of the proposed regulations, it will notify the Commission within 10 days of the close of the Legislative comment period. The notification shall specify the regulatory review criteria which have not been met by that portion. The Regulatory Review Act specifies detailed procedures for review, prior to final publication of the regulations, by the Commission, the General Assembly and the Governor of any objections raised.
Public meeting held
December 4, 1997Commissioners present: John M. Quain, Chairperson; Robert K. Bloom, Vice-Chairperson; Concurring in result; John Hanger; David W. Rolka; Nora Mead Brownell
Proposed Rulemaking Order By the Commission:
On July 10, 1997, the Commission issued a final order that established guidelines for universal service and energy conservation programs. As part of that order, the Commission issued temporary reporting requirements until we developed formal regulations through our normal rulemaking process. This order initiates the formal rulemaking process. The purpose of this rulemaking is to establish standard reporting requirements for universal service and energy conservation programs. The data collected as a result of the reporting requirements will assist the Commission in monitoring the progress of the EDCs in achieving universal service in their service territories. The reporting requirements will also ensure that the data is reported uniformly and consistently. The proposed reporting requirements are set forth in Annex A.
Parties have had several opportunities to comment on the reporting requirements. At Docket M-00960890F003, the Commission established a universal service and energy conservation work group to provide the Commission with recommendations on universal service and energy conservation matters relating to electric restructuring. Over a 6-week period, 70 different parties participated in five work group meetings. The work group submitted a final report on universal service and energy conservation programs to the Commission. The work group reached consensus on limited items for seven principles, including reporting requirements.
On April 25, 1997, the Commission issued a tentative order that proposed guidelines for universal service and energy conservation programs, including reporting requirements. The Commission received comments to the tentative order from 52 parties. Considering these comments, the Commission made changes to the guidelines including the reporting requirements in its final order adopted on July 10, 1997.
Information from the EDCs about universal service programs and low-income customers is more critical now so the Commission can determine if universal service and energy conservation programs comply with the act. The act requires that programs be appropriately funded and available to low-income customers. In their comments to the reporting requirements outlined in the Commission's tentative order regarding guidelines for universal service and energy conservation programs, Pennsylvania Electric Association and the individual EDCs commented that they could not currently provide all the data requested in this section. The Commission is not insensitive to the problems that EDCs will encounter in gathering and reporting the data required as a result of these regulations. The EDCs currently provide much of the program related data we are requesting in these regulations. However, the EDCs report the data at various times throughout the year in different reports. These regulations will establish a uniform and standard reporting format and time schedule. The reporting requirements of these regulations will replace certain program related reports, such as hardship fund and CARES reports, that the EDCs provide to the Commission.
These proposed regulations introduce new collection reporting requirements that identify costs specifically associated with low-income customers. The Commission acknowledges that the EDCs will need time to make programming changes to collect this data. Therefore, the Commission proposes that each EDC should be able to report complete data to the Commission no later than April 1, 2000. For the purposes of low-income collections reporting the Commission requests information on two low-income groups: confirmed low-income accounts and nonconfirmed low-income accounts. Confirmed low-income accounts are those accounts where the EDC has obtained information that would reasonably place the customer in a low-income designation. Examples of this information are receipt of Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) grants, income source noted as TANF or General Assistance on an application for service; or the customer's self-report of income in conjunction with establishing a payment arrangement or application for a utility low-income program.
The nonconfirmed low-income group is comprised of an estimated number of accounts that are believed to be low-income but for which the EDC has no specific confirming information about the account to designate it as low-income. The EDC's belief about the number of nonconfirmed low-income accounts may be based on the disparity between census data reports on the number of low-income households in a service territory versus the number of confirmed low-income accounts in the same area. It is important to consider the nonconfirmed low-income designation for two reasons. First, the EDCs should seek to identify and confirm low-income customers so that they can be apprised of the availability of special programs such as LIHEAP and universal service programs that could help them maintain their utility service. Second, some collection expenses will be attributable to nonconfirmed low-income, payment-troubled customers. These expenses are not appropriately attributed to the nonlow-income residential customer group. Therefore, it is necessary to consider both the confirmed and nonconfirmed low-income accounts when reporting on the collection costs attributable to the ''universal service'' group defined as low-income. When reporting collection figures for the nonconfirmed low-income group, the EDCs are asked to provide a best guess estimate for the expenses associated with this group.
We are also interested in comments regarding the reporting format for the EDCs. We believe that all reporting should be uniform and by electronic submission and would appreciate comments in this regard.
The Commission reserves the right to waive any or all requirements of these regulations upon petition by an affected party under § 5.43 (relating to petitions for issuance, amendment, waiver or repeal of regulations).
Accordingly, under section 501 of the Public Utility Code, and the Commonwealth Documents Law (45 P. S. § 1201 et seq.) and regulations promulgated thereunder at 1 Pa. Code §§ 7.1--7.4, we propose to add the regulations at 52 Pa. Code §§ 54.71-- 54.76 to read as set forth in Annex A; Therefore,
It Is Ordered that:
1. A Rulemaking Docket shall be opened to consider regulations in Annex A.
2. The Secretary shall submit a copy of this order and Annex A to the Office of Attorney General for review as to form and legality.
3. The Secretary shall submit a copy of this order and Annex A to the Governor's Budget Office for review of fiscal impact.
4. The Secretary shall submit this order and Annex A for review by the designated standing committees of both Houses of the General Assembly, and for formal review and comments by IRRC.
5. The Secretary shall certify this order and Annex A and deposit them with the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
6. A copy of this final opinion and order and any accompanying statements of the Commissioners be served upon all jurisdictional electric companies, the Office of Consumer Advocate, the Office of Small Business Advocate, other parties who participated in the Commission's electric competition investigation at Docket No. I-00940032, the Electric Competition Legislative Stakeholders, and the Universal Service and Energy Conservation Work Group.
7. Within 45 days of this order's publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, an original and 15 copies of any comments concerning this order and Annex A should be submitted to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, P. O. Box 3265, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3265.
JAMES J. MCNULTY,
SecretaryFiscal Note: 57-193. No fiscal impact; (8) recommends adoption.
Annex A
TITLE 52. PUBLIC UTILITIES
PART I. PENNSYLVANIA PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION
Subpart C. FIXED UTILITIES
CHAPTER 54. ELECTRICITY GENERATION CUSTOMER CHOICE
Subchapter C. UNIVERSAL SERVICE AND ENERGY CONSERVATION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS Sec.
54.71 Statement of purpose and policy. 54.72. Definitions. 54.73. Universal service and energy conservation goals. 54.74. Universal service and energy conservation plans. 54.75. Annual residential collection and universal service and energy conservation program reporting requirements. 54.76. Evaluation reporting requirements. 54.77 Electric distribution companies with less than 55,000 residential accounts. § 54.71. Statement of purpose and policy.
Section 2804(9) of the code (relating to standards for restructuring of electric industry) mandates that the Commission ensure universal service and energy conservation policies, activities and services for residential electric customers are appropriately funded and available in each EDC territory. This subchapter requires covered EDCs to establish uniform reporting requirements for universal service and energy conservation policies, programs and protections and to report this information to the Commission. The reports are necessary to determine each EDC's progress in achieving universal service within its service territory. This chapter also requires each covered EDC to have a third-party evaluation conducted on its universal service and energy conservation programs every 6 years. The independent evaluator's reports shall be presented to the EDC and to the Commission.
§ 54.72. Definitions.
The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
CAP--Customer assistance program--An alternative collection method that provides payment assistance to low-income, payment troubled utility customers. CAP participants agree to make affordable monthly payments that are less than the current bill in exchange for continued provision of electric utility services.
CARES--A program that provides a cost-effective service that helps selected, payment-troubled customers maximize their ability to pay utility bills. A CARES program provides a casework approach to help customers secure energy assistance funds and other needed services.
Classification of accounts--Accounts are classified by the following categories: all residential accounts, confirmed low-income residential accounts and nonconfirmed low-income residential accounts.
Code--The Public Utility Code, 66 Pa.C.S. §§ 101--3316.
Collection operating expenses--Expenses directly associated with collection of payments due.
Direct dollars--Dollars which are applied to a CARES customer's electric utility account, including all sources of cash assistance applied to utility bills such as LIHEAP, hardship fund grants, and local agencies' grants.
EDC--Electric distribution company--The electric distribution company as defined in section 2803 of the code (relating to definitions).
Hardship Fund--A fund that provides cash assistance to utility customers to help them pay their utility bills.
Impact evaluation--An evaluation that focuses on the degree to which a program achieves the continuation of utility service to program participants at a reasonable cost level and otherwise meets program goals.
Indirect dollars--Cash or goods donated to a CARES household that are not directly applied to a CARES customer's electric utility account. The term includes cash assistance, weatherization services, other donations, and assistance from effective referrals to government programs.
LIURP--Low-income usage reduction program--An energy usage reduction program, that assists low-income customers conserve energy and reduce residential energy bills.
Low-income customer--A residential utility customer whose household income is at or below 150% of the Federal poverty guidelines.
Payment rate--The total number of monthly payments received from CAP participants in a given period divided by the total number of monthly bills issued to CAP participants.
Payment troubled--A household that has failed to maintain one or more payment arrangements in a 2-year period.
Process evaluation--An evaluation that focuses on whether a program meets the level of need, conforms to the program design and operates efficiently.
Residential account in arrears--A residential account that is at least 1 day overdue. This classification includes all customer accounts which have payment arrangements.
Universal service and energy conservation--Universal service and energy conservation as defined in section 2803 of the code.
§ 54.73. Universal service and energy conservation program goals.
(a) The Commission will determine if the EDC meets the goals of universal service and energy conservation programs.
(b) The general goals of universal service and energy conservation programs include the following:
(1) To protect consumers' health and safety by helping low-income customers maintain electric service.
(2) To provide for affordable electric service by making available payment assistance to low-income customers.
(3) To assist low-income customers conserve energy and reduce residential utility bills.
(4) To provide that universal service and energy conservation programs are operated in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
§ 54.74. Universal service and energy conservation plans.
(a) Plan submission. Each EDC shall submit to the Commission for approval an updated universal service and energy conservation plan on a biennial basis beginning April 1, 1999. The plan shall cover the next 2 calendar years. The plan shall state how it differs from the previously approved plan. The plan shall include revisions based on analysis of program experiences and evaluations. If the Commission rejects the plan, the EDC shall submit a revised plan under the order rejecting or directing modification of the plan as previously filed. If the order rejecting the plan does not state a timeline, the EDC shall file its revised plan within 30 days of the entry of the order.
(b) Plan contents. The components of universal service and energy conservation include the following: CAP, LIURP, CARES, Hardship Funds and other programs, policies and protections. For each component of universal service and energy conservation, the plan shall include the following:
(1) Program description.
(2) Eligibility criteria.
(3) Projected needs assessment.
(4) Projected enrollment levels.
(5) Program budget.
(c) Cost-effectiveness. An EDC shall annually assess the cost-effectiveness of its universal service and energy conservation programs.
§ 54.75. Annual residential collection and universal service and energy conservation program reporting requirements.
Each EDC shall report annually to the Commission on its progress in achieving universal service within its service territory. Annual EDC reports shall contain information on programs and collections for the prior calendar year. The report is due April 1 each year, beginning April 1, 2000. When noted, the data shall be reported by classification of accounts. Each EDC's report shall contain the following information:
(1) Collection reporting is categorized as follows:
(i) The criteria used by the EDC to categorize residential customers as low-income.
(ii) Annual collection operating expenses by classification of accounts. Collection operating expenses include administrative expenses associated with termination activity, negotiating payment arrangements, budget counseling, investigation and resolving informal and formal complaints associated with payment arrangements, securing and maintaining deposits, tracking delinquent accounts, collection agencies' expenses, litigation expenses other than Commission related, dunning expenses and winter survey expenses.
(iii) The total dollar amount of the gross residential write-offs, by classification of accounts.
(iv) The total number of residential customers, by classification of accounts.
(v) The total number of residential accounts in arrears, by classification of accounts.
(vi) The total dollar amount of residential accounts in arrears, by classification of accounts.
(vii) The total number of residential customers who are payment troubled, by classification of accounts.
(viii) The total number of terminations completed, by classification of accounts.
(ix) The total number of reconnections, by classification of accounts.
(2) Program reporting is categorized as follows:
(i) For each universal service and energy conservation component, program data shall include information on the following:
(A) Program costs.
(B) Program recipient demographics, including age of family members, family size, gender of head of household, income and source of income.
(C) Participation levels.
(D) Program benefits.
(ii) Additional program data for individual universal service and energy conservation components shall include the following information:
(A) LIURP. Reporting requirements as established in § 58.15 (relating to program evaluation).
(B) CAP.
(I) Energy assistance benefits.
(II) Average CAP bills.
(III) Payment rate.
(C) CARES.
(I) Energy assistance benefits.
(II) Direct dollars applied to CARES accounts.
(III) Indirect dollars applied to CARES accounts.
(D) Hardship funds.
(I) Ratepayer contributions.
(II) Special contributions.
(III) Utility contributions.
(IV) Outreach contacts.
§ 54.76. Evaluation reporting requirements.
Each EDC shall have a third-party conduct an impact evaluation of its universal service and energy conserva-tion programs. The first impact evaluation will be due January 1, 2003. Subsequent evaluation reports shall be presented to the EDC and the Commission at no more than 6-year intervals.
(1) An independent third-party evaluator shall conduct the impact evaluation.
(2) The Commission may request periodic status reports from the EDC or the evaluator.
(3) The evaluator shall submit a copy of the initial draft and final evaluation report to both the Commission's Bureau of Consumer Services and to the EDC.
§ 54.77. Electric distribution companies with less than 55,000 residential accounts.
Beginning March 1, 1999, each EDC with less than 55,000 accounts shall report to the Commission on a biennial basis the following information in lieu of §§ 54.74--54.76 (relating to universal service and energy conservation plans; annual residential collection and universal service and energy conservation program reporting requirements; and evaluation reporting requirements):
(1) The universal service and energy conservation plan.
(2) Expenses associated with low-income customers.
(3) A description of the universal service and energy conservation services provided to low-income residential customers.
(4) Number of services or benefits provided to low-income residential customers.
(5) Dollar amount of services or benefits provided to low-income residential customers.
(6) Other reports requested by the Commission.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 98-174. Filed for public inspection January 30, 1998, 9:00 a.m.]
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