N.J. Admin. Code § 14:4-3.4

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 19, October 7, 2024

Section 14:4-3.4 - Information disclosure

(a) An electric and/or gas public utility may provide individual proprietary information to its PUHC or a related competitive business segment of its PUHC, only with prior affirmative customer written consent, or as otherwise authorized by the Board, and only if that same proprietary information is provided to unaffiliated entities on a non-discriminatory basis with prior affirmative customer written consent, or as otherwise authorized by the Board.

(b) An electric and/or gas public utility shall make available non-customer specific non-public information acquired as a result of operating the public utility's distribution system, including information about an electric and/or gas public utility's natural gas or electricity purchases, sales, or operations or about an electric and/or gas public utility's gas-related goods or services, electricity-related goods or services, to a related competitive business segment of its public utility holding company only if the electric and/or gas public utility makes such information available, via a public posting, to all other service providers on a nondiscriminatory basis, and keeps the information open to public inspection.

1. An electric or gas public utility is permitted to exchange proprietary information on an exclusive basis with its PUHC or a related competitive business segment of its public utility holding company, provided it is necessary to exchange this information in the provision of the corporate support services permitted by 14:4-3.5(i) and (j).

2. The PUHC's or related competitive business segment's use of such proprietary information is limited to its use in conjunction with the permitted corporate support services, and is not permitted for any other use.

(c) When an electric and/or gas public utility makes available a list of electric generation and/or gas service suppliers (suppliers), the list shall only contain those suppliers who are duly licensed by the Board and comply with the electric and/or gas public utility's Board-approved tariff to operate on its distribution system. The suppliers list shall be maintained in alphabetical order, and not highlight or otherwise promote any particular supplier.

(d) An electric and/or gas public utility may provide non-public information and data that have been received from unaffiliated suppliers to its PUHC or a related competitive business segment of its public utility holding company or other non-affiliated entities only if the electric and/or gas public utility first obtains written affirmative authorization to do so from the unaffiliated supplier.

(e) An electric and/or gas public utility shall not solicit the release of such information exclusively to its PUHC or a related competitive business segment of its public utility holding company in an effort to keep such information from other unaffiliated entities.

(f) Except upon request by a customer, or as authorized in (c) above or otherwise by the Board, an electric and/or gas public utility shall not provide its customers with any list of product and/or service providers, that highlights or otherwise identifies its PUHC or a related competitive business segment of its public utility holding company, regardless of whether such list also includes the names of unaffiliated entities.

(g) If a customer requests information about any affiliated product and/or service provider, the electric and/or gas public utility may acknowledge that such affiliated product and/or service provider exists, but shall provide no additional information unless it provides a list of all providers of gas-related, electricity-related, or other utility-related products and/or services in business in its service territory, including the related competitive business segment of its public utility holding company.

1. Any such list shall include all suppliers licensed by the Board.

2. Where maintaining such list would be unduly burdensome due to the number of service providers, the electric and/or gas public utility shall not provide a list and may direct the customer to a generally available listing of service providers, for example, the Board, the telephone directory or Internet.

(h) An electric and/or gas public utility shall maintain complete and accurate records, documenting all tariffed and non-tariffed transactions with its PUHC and a related competitive business segment of its public utility holding company, including, but not limited to, all waivers of tariff or contract provisions.

(i) An electric and/or gas public utility shall maintain such records in compliance with the time frame required by N.J.A.C. 14:5-5.2 or longer if another government agency so requires.

(j) The electric and/or gas public utility shall make such records available for Board and/or Rate Counsel review upon 72 hours notice, or at a time mutually agreeable to the electric and/or gas public utility and the Board and/or Rate Counsel.

(k) An electric and/or gas public utility shall maintain a record of all contracts and related bids for the provision of work, products and/or services to and from the electric and/or gas public utility to and from the PUHC or related competitive business segments of its public utility holding company in compliance with N.J.A.C. 14:5-5.2 or longer if another government agency so requires.

N.J. Admin. Code § 14:4-3.4

Amended by R.2013 d.067, effective 4/15/2013.
See: 44 N.J.R. 1589(a), 45 N.J.R. 934(b).
Rewrote (a).