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In Revised Proposal, PSC Eliminates Linking Retail Supplier Penalty Amounts To Market Share
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All retail natural gas suppliers in Georgia would be subject to the same presumptive penalty for violations of service quality metrics (SQMs), regardless of the supplier's market share, under a revised proposed rule from the Georgia PSC
In October 2023, the PSC had issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) revising the rules applicable to retail gas marketer SQMs
Among the proposed changes in the original NOPR was that the PSC would have tied the "presumptive" penalty for violations of SQM benchmarks contained in the rule to a retail supplier's market share
The original NOPR had provided that the presumptive penalty for a supplier with a market share of 5% or less would have been $2,500 per violation
The original NOPR had provided that the presumptive penalty for a supplier with a market share between 5% and 10% would have been $5,000 per violation
The original NOPR had provided that the presumptive penalty for a supplier with a market share between 10% and 20% would have been $20,000 per violation
The original NOPR had provided that the presumptive penalty for a supplier with a market share over 20% would have been $25,000 per violation
However, a revised NOPR issued by the PSC today eliminates this tiered approach to the presumptive penalty for violations of the SQM benchmarks
Under the revised NOPR, the presumptive penalty for non-compliance with any SQM benchmark shall be $25,000 per each non-compliance event, regardless of a supplier's market share
In comments on the originally proposed penalty levels based on market share, Georgia Natural Gas had stated, "this tiered penalty structure could have the unintended effect of reducing the incentive for compliance by smaller marketers."
While the proposed rule contains a "presumptive" penalty, the ultimate determination of a fine for non-compliance with an SQM benchmark will be determined by the PSC
The revised NOPR specifically provides that, "All penalties will be subject to Commission discretion," and provides that marketers or other parties may seek adjustment to a penalty
Both the original NOPR and revised NOPR provide for remediation periods to allow a retail supplier to come into compliance with an SQM benchmark prior to incurring a penalty for non-compliance. The revised NOPR does contain several changes regarding the remediation periods
As an example, for both call wait time violations, and billing accuracy violations, the original NOPR would have required a remediation plan to be filed by a supplier by the last day of the second month of the remediation period.
The revised NOPR requires the remediation plan to be filed by the last day of the first month of the remediation period
For both call wait time violations, and billing accuracy violations, the original NOPR would have required a supplier's report concerning the remediation period to be filed within 5 days of the end of the remediation period
The revised NOPR extends this remediation period report deadline to 15 days after the end of the remediation period
For the call wait time SQM, the revised NOPR imposes an interim metric that the supplier must meet during the remediation period
Under the call wait time remediation period, as modified under the revised NOPR, in order to "pass" and avoid a fine, the supplier must meet a 70% benchmark concerning call wait times during the second month of the remediation period, and the established SQM benchmark of 80% during the third month of the remediation period. The original NOPR had not included the interim 70% benchmark during the remediation period, and would have only required that the supplier meet the 80% metric during the third month of the remediation period.
The revised NOPR accelerates when marketers must meet the billing accuracy SQM under a remediation period, while also apparently correcting a scrivener's error in the original NOPR
For the billing accuracy remediation period, the original NOPR had provided that, to pass the remediation period, the supplier, "shall meet the established SQM benchmark of 80% [sic] during the third month of the remediation period."
In contrast, the revised NOPR imposes the established SQM benchmark, which is 98.5% bill accuracy, during both the second and third month of the remediation period
Specifically, the revised NOPR states, for the billing accuracy remediation period, "In order to achieve passing remediation and avoid a penalty, the Marketer, at a minimum, shall meet the established SQM benchmark of 98.5% during the second and third month of the remediation period."
Regarding the call wait time SQM, the revised NOPR does modify the definition and calculations used to determine compliance with the call wait SQM, addressing issues including the start of the wait time, and the treatment of customer-initiated call terminations
Furthermore, the original NOPR would have only applied the call wait time SQM to "consumer" calls. The revised NOPR deletes the term "consumer" from the call wait time SQM benchmark rule, and the benchmark would apply to all calls
Georgia Natural Gas, in comments on the originally proposed rule, had noted that its call center (and averring that such is the case with most marketers) does not track calls by customer type (i.e. not tracking by consumer, meaning residential as noted below, or small commercial). GNG had recommended deletion of the term consumer from the call wait time metric
Regarding the billing accuracy SQM, the revised NOPR now explicitly states that any billing cancelations or corrections due to meter reading errors, or any other error caused by the EDC, will not be counted against the supplier.
The revised NOPR reverts to the current definition of "consumer" under the SQM rule, deleting modified language added in the original NOPR
The revised NOPR defines "consumer" to mean, "a retail customer of commodity sales service or of firm distribution service who uses such service or services primarily for personal, family, or household purposes."
In contrast, the original NOPR would have defined "consumer" to mean, "a retail customer of commodity sales service or of firm distribution service who uses such service(s) for the normal domestic and housekeeping requirements such as cooking, water heating, central or space heating, air-conditioning, refrigeration and lighting."
The revised NOPR maintains a new deadline for filing SQM reports of 15 days after the end of the applicable month. Currently, suppliers have 30 days to file SQM reports
Docket 15296
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July 19, 2024
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Copyright 2024 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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