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“BP Energy Retail Company LLC (“BPERC” or “Complainant”) hereby submits a Complaint seeking relief from certain invoices issued by ISO-NE based on phantom load incorrectly assigned to BPERC by Eversource Energy (“Eversource”) and NSTAR Electric Company (“NSTAR”) (together, “Eversource/NSTAR”), apparently as a result of the implementation of a new information management system by Eversource/NSTAR called “Omni” in or around June of 2024.”

“As described below, BPERC submits that billing BPERC for phantom load that it has not, does not and cannot serve would be unjust, unreasonable and unduly discriminatory and that equitable relief from this result is warranted. The allocation of phantom load to BPERC appears to be based solely on an extensive IT systems error across multiple months. BPERC properly challenged these errors as they arose. BPERC believes that Eversource/NSTAR reported the same basic issues to ISO-NE. ISO-NE corrected the overallocation in the Northeast Massachusetts (“NEMA”) zone through the Meter Data Error RBA Resettlements process; however, a second over-allocation arose in the South East Massachusetts (“SEMA”) zone for the first time that improperly tagged BPERC with a total of 144,000 MWh of new load, resulting in additional direct costs to BPERC of about $5,935,6723 for the period July-September 2024. If the Renewable Portfolio Standard (“RPS”) obligations related to this phantom load are not corrected, that could increase the financial impact by an estimated additional $3,566,372 for a total impact of $9,502,044. 4 BPERC had no actual knowledge of this readjustment. 5”

“ISO-NE states that the Request for Billing Adjustment (“RBA”) is barred by the 101-day limit on billing adjustments under its Manual M-28 directing BPERC to resolve discrepancies outside of the ISO settlement framework. 6 BPERC had no notice or opportunity to correct this error, and as a result it has been saddled with millions of dollars in costs for load it does not serve, despite the fact that it timely objected to prior phantom load allocations. This is a result that is unjust, unreasonable, and unduly discriminatory, warranting corrective action by the Commission.”

“Accordingly, BPERC respectfully requests that the Commission direct ISO-NE to nullify these phantom load charges, and to grant any and all necessary waivers of the ISO-NE tariff, operating procedures or protocols necessary to implement this result and to direct Eversource/NSTAR to provide to ISO-NE corrected data to fix the actual SEMA load for BPERC during the time periods at issue and going forward. In the alternative, BPERC requests that the Commission issue an order remanding the case to ISO-NE to reopen the record to fix the proper billed amount to BPERC for the months of July, August and September 2024 for the SEMA load charges still at issue, without regard to the 101-day limit in Market Rule 1 and Manual M-28 and to nullify the phantom load charges for those months.” 

“At the outset, BPERC notes that it has worked with Eversource/NSTAR to attempt to resolve this situation. BPERC will continue to do so. Eversource/NSTAR have expressed willingness to resolve the load errors that are the subject of this Complaint and have agreed on the volumes of over-inflated load allocations; however, to date, Eversource/NSTAR have provided neither a process nor a timeline for any such resolution. Given the high cost of these inaccurate load allocations to BPERC—slightly under $10 million—BPERC has filed this Complaint to preclude any claim of waiver of any of its rights.”

EL26-5-000
(BP Energy Retail Company LLC Complaint Against ISO New England Inc., et al.)