Texas REPs Say Required Notice Of New DCRF Rates Linked To Approval, Not Filing; Oppose TDU's Sought Interim Relief

November 28, 2023

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

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The Alliance for Retail Markets and the Texas Energy Association for Marketers (collectively, the 'REP Coalition') opposed a motion for interim relief filed by AEP Texas at the Texas PUC under which AEP Texas seeks approval to implement interim Distribution Cost Recovery Factor (DCRF) rates pending resolution of the TDU's application to adjust the DCRF rates

AEP Texas has sought interim relief to implement the updated Rider DCRF rates on an interim basis, effective the first day of the billing cycle for February 2024, which is January 31, 2023.

AEP Texas has said as follows: "There is good cause to authorize the implementation of interim rates. The law governing DCRF proceedings has recently been amended to reduce the amount of time for processing a DCRF case. Now, under PURA §36.210(i), the Public Utility Commission of Texas ('Commission') has 60 days after a DCRF application is filed to issue an order on that application. The Commission may extend that deadline by 15 days for good cause. At the same time, PURA § 36.210 requires electric utilities in the ERCOT power region, such as AEP Texas, to provide notice to retail electric providers ('REPs') of the approved rates not later than the 45th day before the date the rates take effect. Because AEP Texas is requesting an effective date of January 31, 2024, AEP Texas must provide notice to REPs by Friday, December 15, 2023. Because there is only 30 days between now and that required notice deadline, it is unlikely AEP Texas will have a final order by that date. Accordingly, AEP Texas is filing this motion as soon as possible in anticipation of the need for relief prior to the time relief is reasonably needed under the changed circumstances presented by the statutory amendment. Granting interim relief will allow AEP Texas to implement rates in a timely manner consistent with the recently amended DCRF statute while simultaneously providing REPs with sufficient notice of the rates. Because interim rates are subject to refund or surcharge to the extent the rates ultimately established differ from the interim rates, the effect of granting interim relief will only have an effect on the public if the final rates differ from the interim rates, and any such effect would be temporary and brief."

However, the REP Coalition said, "the requirement in PURA § 36.210(b)(2) that AEP Texas and other transmission and distribution utilities ('TDUs') provide 45 days’ notice to retail electric providers ('REPs') of the approved DCRF rates begins after the DCRF rates are approved -- not in advance of Commission approval."

"Consequently, AEP Texas’s statutory obligation to provide REPs the 45 days’ notice of approved DCRF rates does not provide good cause under 16 TAC § 22.125 for granting AEP Texas’s requested interim relief," the REP Coalition said

The REP Coalition said, "While PURA § 36.210(i) expedites the deadline for the Commission to enter an order in a DCRF proceeding, it does not require approved DCRF rates to be effective within 60 days of the application’s filing date. The only language in the statute regarding the timing of the effective date of approved DCRF rates is that the rates are effective after the TDU provides at least 45 days’ notice to REPs of the approved rates."

The REP Coalition said, "REPs must devote significant time and resources to implement a TDU rate change, and the 45-day notice requirement ensures REPs have sufficient time to do that. Because PURA § 36.210(b)(2) requires that a TDU provide REPs with notice of an approved DCRF rate change at least 45 days before that rate change is effective, the 45 days can only begin after approval of DCRF rates in a contested proceeding. The 45-day notice requirement does not and cannot run concurrently with the 60-day procedural timeline during a contested proceeding because rates have not yet been approved. Therefore, the requirement in PURA § 36.210(b)(2) that TDUs provide 45 days’ notice of approved rates to REPs has no impact on the 60-day deadline for a final order. Consequently, AEP Texas failed to demonstrate good cause under 16 TAC § 22.125 for its requested interim relief, and its motion should be denied."

Docket 55820

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