Staff Proposes Effective Date For New Prohibition On REC-Only "Renewable Energy" Products

November 7, 2023

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Copyright 2010-23 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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With a stay having been lifted (see story here), the Office of Education, Outreach, and Enforcement (EOE) of the Connecticut PURA has proposed new effective dates for PURA's 2020 decision which, among other things, limits voluntary renewable electricity supply offers (VRO) from retail electric suppliers to using only RECs sourced from certain RTOs and which meet certain definitions, and which prohibits the use of the term "renewable energy" to market a REC product

Note: VROs are generation supply offers from load-serving retail electric suppliers that contain some type of qualifying renewable components as discussed below. REC-only products, as used in this story, refer to offers under a PURA-authorized program under which RECs (and not generation supply) may be purchased by a customer with costs included in the utility consolidated bill (UCB), under a successor to the current Clean Energy Options REC add-on program (CEOP).

The 2020 order prohibited suppliers from using the term "renewable energy" for REC-based VRO products. Under the order, a supplier may not market the product as "renewable energy" unless the offer is supported by an ownership interest in or PPA for a renewable resource used to serve the contract.

The 2020 order also established certain universal standards for REC-only and suppliers' VRO offers as follows:

(1) Certificates that support VROs or REC-only offers may originate only from the ISO-NE, New York, or PJM control areas

(2) Certificates that support VROs or REC-only offers must reflect resources defined as Class I in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 16-1

In terms of proceeding with PURA's order, now that the stay has been lifted, EOE said that PURA should order that, beginning with the 2024 RPS compliance, any supplier marketing a VRO will be required to include the following as separate information to supports its VRO load and REC settlement compliance, as discussed in Section II.C of the 2020 order, which includes the prohibition of marketing REC products as "renewable energy": Third party verification/attestation of its VRP load; third party verification/attestation that the appropriate RECs were settled; copies of the VRO Disclosure Label(s).

EOE also recommended that PURA order that, on or before December 15, 2023, the Disclosure Label Working Group shall submit its final recommendations to the Authority for approval. PURA's 2020 order included proposed disclosure labels to separate REC-based VROs, which cannot be marketed as "renewable energy", and proposed "supply" disclosure labels for PPA/owned-generation-backed renewable products

EOE also recommended that, "Further, the Authority should change page 25 of the Decision to read 'Effective January 1, 2024, all new and renewing VRO offers must comply with the rules and standards established herein for all customer enrollments,' and the Authority should change page 26 to read, 'The Authority will establish a working group (Disclosure Label Working Group) in the instant proceeding to finalize a revised label for submission by December 15, 2023.'"

EOE said, "Suppliers have been aware of the Connecticut Supreme Court opinion since June of this year and should be prepared to implement the requirements of the Decision by January 1, 2024. Further, the Authority provided a mock-up of a disclosure label with the Decision. As a result, the Disclosure Label Working Group has an example from which to begin its work, which should significantly shorten the process. EOE believes it would be best if suppliers implement the Disclosure Label at the same time as the new VRO requirements take effect, but if the Authority finds the deadline for the working group submission and Authority approval too short (particularly since it would occur at the holidays), then EOE encourages the Authority to set a date as soon as practicable to allow customers to benefit from the new label."

Docket 16-12-29RE01

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