Ariz. Admin. Code § 14-2-1604

Current through Register Vol. 30, No. 25, June 21, 2024

Section R14-2-1604 - Competitive Phases

A. At the date established under R14-2-1602(A), each Affected Utility shall make available at least 20% of its 1995 system retail peak demand for competitive generation supply on a first-come, first-served basis as further described in this rule. First-come, first-served, for the purpose of this rule, shall be determined for nonresidential customers by the date and time of an Electric Service Provider's filing of a Direct Access Service Request with the Affected Utility or Utility Distribution Company. The effective date of the Direct Access Service Request must be within 60 days of the filing date of the Direct Access Service Request. Residential customer selection will be determined under approved residential phase-in programs as specified in subsection (B)(4).

1. All Affected Utility customers with single premise noncoincident peak demand load of 1 MW or greater will be eligible for competitive electric services upon the commencement of competition. Customers meeting this requirement shall be eligible for competitive services until at least 20% of the Affected Utility's 1995 system peak demand is served by competition.

2. Any class of customer may aggregate into a minimum combined load of 1 MW or greater within an Affected Utility's service territory and be eligible for competitive electric services. From the commencement of competition under R14-2-1602 through December 31, 2000, aggregation of new competitive customers will be allowed until such time as at least 20% of the Affected Utility's 1995 peak demand is served by competitors.

3. Affected Utilities shall notify customers eligible under this subsection of the terms of the subsection no later than 60 days prior to the start of competition within its service territory.

4. Effective January 1, 2001, all Affected Utility customers irrespective of size will be eligible for Aggregation and Self-Aggregation. Aggregation and Self-Aggregation customers purchasing their electricity and related services at any time after the effective date of these rules must do so from a certificated Electric Provider as provided for in these rules.

B. As part of the minimum 20% of 1995 system peak demand set forth in subsection (A), each Affected Utility shall reserve a residential phase-in program that provides an increasing minimum percentage of residential customers with access to competitive electric services according to the following schedule:

1.	January 1, 1999	1 1/4%
	April 1, 1999	2 1/2%
	July 1, 1999	3 3/4%
	October 1, 1999	5%
	January 1, 2000	6 1/4%
	April 1, 2000	7 1/2%
	July 1, 2000	8 3/4%
	October 1, 2000	10%

2. Access to the residential phase-in program will be on a first-come, first-served basis. The Affected Utility shall create and maintain a waiting list to manage the residential phase-in program, which list shall promptly be made available to any certificated Load-Serving Electric Service Provider upon request.

3. Residential customers participating in the residential phase-in program shall be permitted to use load profiling to satisfy the requirements for hourly consumption data; however, they may choose other metering options offered by their Electric Service Provider consistent with the Commission's rules on metering.

4. If not already done, each Affected Utility shall file a residential phase-in program proposal to the Commission, through Docket Control, for approval by Director, Utilities Division, by September 15, 1999. Interested parties will have until September 30, 1999, to comment on any proposal. At a minimum, the residential phase-in program proposal will include specifics concerning the Affected Utility's proposed:

a. Process for customer notification of residential phase-in program;

b. Selection and tracking mechanism for customers based on first-come, first-served method;

c. Customer notification process and other education and information services to be offered;

d. Load Profiling methodology and actual load profiles, if available; and

e. Method for calculation of reserved load.

5. After the commencement of competition under R14-2-1602, each Affected Utility shall file quarterly residential phase-in program reports with the Compliance Section, Utilities Division, within 45 days of the end of each quarter. The first such report shall be due within 45 days of the first quarter ending after the start of the phase-in of competition for that Affected Utility. The final report due under this rule shall be due within 45 days of the quarter ending December 31, 2002. As a minimum, these quarterly reports shall include:

a. The number of customers and the load currently enrolled in residential phase-in program by Energy Service Provider,

b. The number of customers currently on the waiting list,

c. A description and examples of all customer education programs and other information services including the goals of the education program and a discussion of the effectiveness of the programs, and

d. An overview of comments and survey results from participating residential customers.

6. Aggregation or Self-Aggregation of residential customers is allowed subject to the limitations of the phase-in percentages in this rule.

C. Each Affected Utility shall file a report by November 1, 1999, detailing possible mechanisms to provide benefits, including rate reductions of 3% - 5%, to all Standard Offer customers.

D. All customers shall be eligible to obtain competitive electric services no later than January 1, 2001.

E. Retail consumers served under existing contracts are eligible to participate in the competitive market prior to expiration of the existing contract only if the Affected Utility and the consumer agree that the retail consumer may participate in the competitive market.

F. Schedule Modifications for Cooperatives

1. An electric cooperative may request that the Commission modify the schedule described in subsections (A) through (E) so as to preserve the tax-exempt status of the cooperative or to allow time to modify contractual arrangements pertaining to delivery of power supplies and associated loans.

2. As part of the request, the cooperative shall propose methods to enhance consumer choice among generation resources.

3. The Commission shall consider whether the benefits of modifying the schedule exceed the costs of modifying the schedule.

Ariz. Admin. Code § R14-2-1604

Adopted effective December 26, 1996, under an exemption as determined by the Arizona Corporation Commission (Supp. 96-4). Amended by an emergency action effective August 10, 1998, pursuant to A.R.S. § 41-1026, in effect for a maximum of 180 days (Supp. 98-3). Emergency amendment replaced by exempt permanent amendment effective December 31, 1998 (Supp. 98-4). Amended by exempt rulemaking at 5 A.A.R. 3933, effective September 24, 1999 (Supp. 99-3). Amended by exempt rulemaking at 6 A.A.R. 4180, effective October 13, 2000 (Supp. 00-4).

The Arizona Corporation Commission has determined that the following Section is exempt from the Attorney General approval provisions of the Arizona Administrative Procedure Act (A.R.S. § 41-1041 ) by a court order (State ex. rel. Corbin v. Arizona Corporation Commission, 174 Ariz. 216 848 P.2d 301 (App. 1992)).