|
|
|
|
|
PUC Directs Utility To Undertake Measures To Increase Retail Supplier Participation In Procurement To Serve Shopping-Ineligible Customers
The following story is brought free of charge to readers by VertexOne, the exclusive EDI provider of EnergyChoiceMatters.com
The PUC of Ohio has directed Duke Energy Ohio to undertake measures meant to increase participation of retail suppliers in solicitations to provide natural gas supply to Duke's Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) customers.
PIPP customers are ineligible for choice, but Duke conducts a competitive RFP to supply such customers
Duke's most recent RFP resulted in bids from only a single supplier -- Utility Gas & Power (LE Energy LLC)
PUCO approved Duke's application to award to Utility Gas & Power service to PIPP customers for the period of April 2025 to March 2028 at the monthly NYMEX closing price plus Utility Gas & Power's bid adder of $1.69 per MMBtu, for the 3-year term.
While PUCO Staff recommended approval of Utility Gas & Power's 3-year bid, Staff noted that there has been a decline in bidder participation in response to the PIPP RFPs
For comparison, a 2017 RFP for PIPP service had attracted 6 bidders (and none of these individual 6 bidders have been consolidated into one another since such time)
PUCO agreed with Staff's recommendations to engender additional retail supplier participation in the PIPP procurement
Under the current procurement process, Duke electronically mailed the RFP to 271 active supplier email addresses in its transportation service program. The PIPP RFP included a cover letter, PIPP gas supply agreement, a bid form, five-year historical data for PIPP customer usage, Rate Full-Service Requirements Aggregation Service and a pipeline deliverability map. The PIPP RFP requested proposals to deliver natural gas volumes to Duke Energy Ohio on behalf of PIPP customer class for a one-, two-, and three-year period beginning April 1, 2025
As proposed by Staff, PUCO directed that Duke should issue a survey to natural gas suppliers in its service territory to solicit feedback on why suppliers may choose not to submit a bid and whether any modifications to the PIPP RFP process could result in greater bidder participation.
For future RFPs, PUCO said that Duke should electronically mail PIPP RFP information to active suppliers at least 30 days prior to the due date for bids. Staff had said that, "This will give suppliers sufficient time to review the RFP documents, analyze the prospects of bidding, and prepare a bid for submission."
PUCO also held that, in future PIPP alternative supplier applications, Duke should provide the Commission with only the name of the recommended bidder, the price, and the length of the term. If PUCO Staff needs additional information pertaining to the bids, that information may be requested.
In the most recent RFP, Duke publicly listed that prices that Utility Gas & Power had bid for different term lengths, and, in prior procurements, Duke has identified specific prices bid by non-winning bidders
Staff had noted that, on the electricity side, the bids from retail suppliers to serve PIPP load are confidential, except for the winning bid, which is disclosed only after a period of time had expired.
For natural gas, Duke will transition from its current GCR default service process to a wholesale SSO auction for default service supplies, effective April 1, 2026
At other natural gas LDCs with SSO or SCO auctions, PIPP load is often served by the winning suppliers in the SSO or SCO auction
Case 25-139-GA-UNC.
Copyright 2025 EnergyChoiceMatters.com. Unauthorized copying, retransmission, or republication
prohibited. You are not permitted to copy any work or text of EnergyChoiceMatters.com without the separate and express written consent of EnergyChoiceMatters.com
March 19, 2025
Email This Story
Copyright 2025 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
|
|
|
|
|