PAS-28-07-00004-A Rates for the Sale of Power and Energy

11/14/07 N.Y. St. Reg. PAS-28-07-00004-A

NEW YORK STATE REGISTER

VOLUME XXIX, ISSUE 46

November 14, 2007

RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES

POWER AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

NOTICE OF ADOPTION

 

I.D No. PAS-28-07-00004-A

Filing Date. Oct. 30, 2007

Effective Date. Jan. 01, 2008

Rates for the Sale of Power and Energy

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following action:

Action taken:

Consolidation of production and delivery service tariffs applicable to New York City and Westchester County governmental customers.

Statutory authority:

Public Authorities Law, section 1005(6)

Subject:

Rates for the sale of power and energy.

Purpose:

To streamline and simplify the multiple tariffs into two single tariffs in order to make them more user friendly and easier to understand.

Substance of final rule:

The City of New York (“City”) filed formal written comments in accordance with SAPA. No other comments were received. Power Authority staff reviewed the City's written comments and substantially accepted their recommendations.

Following is a summary of the City's comments and the Power Authority's response.

Issue 1: Rider A - Schedule of Rates for Back-up and Maintenance Power (Section III)

The City commented that even though the Authority does not serve any customer under Rider A, Rider A should be continued for customers that do install on-site generation facilities. The Power Authority will continue to use Rider A. The City commented that the Authority should consider amending Rider A to allow the Authority to negotiate discounted Rider A rates where applicable, as many other utilities do. Until a rate redesign study is performed, the production rates stated in Rider A in the Single Tariffs were updated to reflect appropriate production rate increases approved by the Power Authority's Trustees since 2004.

The City commented that the tariffs, as written, were unclear in that it could be interpreted that Rider A was a charge in addition to the rates and charges specified for each service classification. The City recommended that the Authority remove all references to Rider A in each service classification and then clarify in Rider A that the back-up charges provided in Rider A are designed to be alternative to the rates and charges specified for each service classification. In response to the City's comments, the Power Authority changed a statement in Section IV of the Single Tariffs, from “Rates and charges under this Service Classification may be subject to Rider A” to “If Rider A applies under this Service Classification, the Rates and Charges under Rider A will replace the above production rates.” The Authority also included the following language in the Applicability section of Rider A of the Single Tariffs: “The rates and charges shown below are substitute rates to the rates and charges specified in Section IV of this tariff.”

The City asked to define two terms that are not defined in Rider A in the Energy Charge Adjustment (“ECA”) section, “Base Average Energy Cost” and “Base Incremental Energy Cost.” In response, the Power Authority made the ECA provision under Rider A subject to the same ECA provision described in the Single Tariffs (Section VI.A). Accordingly, for Rider A, all components for calculating the ECA are included in Section VI.A. The ECA language in Rider A in the Single Tariffs was modified to reflect this recommendation.

Issue 2: Calculation of the Bill - Components of the Bill (Section III.A)

The City commented that the term “other” was used in two different contexts: as one of three general types of charges (Production, Delivery Service and Other) and then as a component of Delivery Service that is measured in “Charge Units” of $/kW-month. With respect to the use of “other” as a Bill Component of the Delivery Service Charge, the City suggested replacing the Charge Units ($/kW-month) with “various” since the charge units may vary depending on the type of cost being recovered. In response, the Power Authority made this change in the Single Tariffs.

Issue 3: General Provisions Applicable to Production - Minimum Bill (Section VI.B)

The City recommended that the Power Authority clarify when and how it will determine to issue a minimum bill for unmetered service. Since the purpose of the NYC Single Tariff is not to address how and when data are collected but how the calculation is done, the Power Authority clarified the language on how unmetered service charges will be applied.

The City commented that there should be language in the termination-of-service provision conditioning termination of service on the requirements of the Customer Supply Contract. In response, the Power Authority included the language “Unless otherwise provided in the Customer Supply Contract” in the Termination of Service paragraph of the Minimum Bill provision in the NYC Single Tariff.

Issue 4: Common Provisions - Rules and Regulations (Section V.A)

The City suggested the overriding effect of the Long Term Agreement (“LTA”) (with NYC Governmental Customers) be acknowledged. In response, the Power Authority added a third paragraph to Section V.A of the NYC Single Tariff as follows: “In the event of any inconsistencies, conflicts or differences between any provisions of the 2005 Long Term Agreement and any of the agreements or documents referenced in Section V, Common Provisions A.1 and 2, the provisions of the 2005 Long Term Agreement shall govern.” The Power Authority also added similar language to the Westchester County Service Tariff, as appropriate.

The newly consolidated single tariffs for the Power Authority's New York City and Westchester County Governmental Customers will go into effect on January 1, 2008, along with the 2008 production rates for those customers, which rates will be presented for the approval of the Power Authority's Trustees at their December 2007 meeting.

Final rule as compared with last published rule:

Substantial revisions were made in sections III.A, V.A, VIII, IV, and VI.B.

Text of rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:

Anne B. Cahill, Power Authority of the State of New York, 123 Main St., 15-M, White Plains, NY 10601, [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]

Regulatory Impact Statement, Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, Rural Area Flexibility Analysis and Job Impact Statement

Statements and analyses are not submitted with this notice because the rule is within the definition contained in section 102(2)(a)(ii) of the State Administrative Procedure Act.

Assessment of Public Comment:

An assessment of public comment is not submitted with this notice because the rule is within the definition contained in section 102(2)(a)(ii) of the State Administrative Procedure Act.