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In Connecticut PURA has filed a notice of intent and public comment period under the Secretary of State review process regarding review cycle for electric supplier licenses.  In September, PURA filed the final proposed rule language.  

The proposed regulations change the review cycle for electric supplier licenses from every five years to biennial. The proposed regulations also raise the fee for applications to become a licensed electric supplier and the fee for the periodic reviews conducted by the Authority. In addition, the proposed regulations require electric suppliers to provide additional information to PURA and the public. For licensing, electric suppliers will be required to provide information on investigations by regulatory agencies and attorneys general in other states. After licensing, electric suppliers will be required to provide the Authority with responses to customer inquiries and complaints, and to provide specific information on their websites, including the electric supplier’s official name and trade name(s), all PURA dockets specifically pertaining to the electric supplier, customer service contact information, PURA contact information, information concerning all generally available offers, renewable products, sources of renewable energy, standard contracts, and enrollment forms, and any other information deemed necessary by the Authority. Additionally, electric suppliers will have to follow specific rules when posting to the Rate Board, including honoring all generation rates the electric supplier has posted to the Rate Board, self-reporting all generally available generation offers, ensuring generally available rates are all inclusive, and cross-posting rates that appear on the electric supplier’s own website. Electric suppliers will also have to follow specific rules when posting rates to their own website. These amendments will ensure the public is receiving all pertinent information to make decisions regarding electric suppliers.

Lastly, the Proposed Regulations change and generally increase security requirements according to a new schedule. The Authority will have the discretion to increase security if an electric supplier’s forecast year load exceeds 1,500,000 MWh.

Specifically, an electric supplier shall maintain an amount of security based on its forecast year load in accordance with the following schedule. The forecast year load shall be the amount of the full load served by the electric supplier during the previous calendar year, as adjusted to account for changes in the type and quantity of customers to be served in the forecast year.

1. Up to 100,000 MWh: $250,000;
2. 100,001 MWh to 499,999 MWh: $500,000;
3. 500,000 MWh to 99,999 MWh: $1 million; and
4. 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 MWh: $2 million.

An electric supplier may elect to maintain continuous security in an amount greater than indicated in the schedule.

Notwithstanding this schedule, the Authority has the discretion to increase an electric supplier’s security as indicated by a decision in the electric supplier’s licensing docket to accommodate an electric supplier’s forecast year load in excess of 1,500,000 MWh in increments of one million dollars per each additional 500,000 MWh of annual load.

In addition to security requirements, in response to concerns from the state’s Attorney General, PURA modified the final proposed rule to provide that a supplier, as part of their licensing application shall provide an attestation that, “the applicant and the applicant’s third party agents have reasonable cyber and data security practices, including a description of the applicant’s and the third party agents’ cyber and data security practices.”  See order for full proposed changes.

Notice of Intent & Public Comment Period  (01/02/2024)
Proposed Licensing Rules (01/02/2024)
19-10-41  (10/31/2019)

(Rulemaking regarding retail license applications)

See also: PR2020-007