Texas REPs Seek Action On Petition To Designate New ERCOT Contingency Reserve Service As A/S Product Increasing Costs Beyond REPs' Control, Allowing Adjustment To Fixed Rates

April 12, 2024

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Copyright 2010-24 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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The Texas Energy Association for Marketers (TEAM) and Alliance for Retail Markets (ARM) (collectively, REP Coalition) urged the Texas PUC to act on a pending partial appeal of an ALJ's order concerning the appropriate notice required for the PUC to address the REPs' petition which requests that the PUC designate the new ERCOT Contingency Reserve Service (ECRS) as an, "ancillary service product as incurring charges beyond the REP’s control for a customer’s existing contract", which would allow REPs to apply a one-time price adjustment to a fixed rate contract that was executed before the implementation of this new ancillary service

See our prior story for background on the petition

As previously reported, an ALJ had ordered that, among other notice, REPs shall publish notice of their petition in a newspaper in each county in which an affected customer resides, and that REPs post notice on their websites

The REP Coalition appealed those two aspects of the order, calling them, "unprecedented for competitive entities and rate-regulated entities, and ... not consistent with the Commission’s rules."

See more details on the REP Coalition's appeal here

The REP Coalition filed its appeal on February 2.

At the PUC's open meeting on March 7, 2024, the Commission voted to extend time to act on the appeal.

The order's requirement to provide the two forms of notice described above has been tolled pending resolution of the appeal

Substantive consideration of the petition cannot proceed until the notice issue is resolved

The REP Coalition said, "As of the date of this filing [April 12], the Commission has not taken up the substantive question in this appeal, which involves only the question of the appropriate notice for this proceeding."

The REP Coalition said, "Time is of the essence in this proceeding and the REP Coalition respectfully requests that the Commission schedule consideration of this appeal on the next open meeting. This proceeding was initiated to allow determination of the substantive issue before the Summer season -- whether or not ERCOT Contingency Reserve Service caused retail electric providers to incur a cost or fee beyond their control for contracts that were in existence at the time of the new ancillary service was issued. The REP Coalition continues to believe that this case can proceed expeditiously, with minimal demand on Commission Staff resources, once the issue of notice is resolved."

"Accordingly, the REP Coalition respectfully requests that the Commission take up consideration of the partial appeal of Order No. 4 to answer the questions of (1) whether the REP associations should be required to publish notice of this proceeding in newspapers covering every county in Texas, and (2) whether individual REPs who are not parties to this proceeding should be ordered to post information regarding this proceeding on their websites," the REP Coalition said

The REP Coalition noted that the uncontested other forms of notice that were included in the ALJ's notice order have been issued, and proof of that notice has been filed in the docket (i.e., Electric Reliability Council of Texas Market Notice and Texas Register Notice).

The REP Coalition noted that more than 30 days have expired since such notices were issued and no parties have sought to intervene since the issuance of such notices.

Docket 55959

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