Matters Involving Electricity

• Renewables - Processed 779 Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) applications received in FY 2016; Monitored the District’s energy suppliers to ensure they were only obtaining Renewable Energy Credits and Solar Renewable Energy Credits from energy facilities that comply with District law; Directed Pepco to modify its interconnection process to make the process more user-friendly (Order No. 18575); Prepared and submitted a timely RPS Report to the D.C. Council.
• Formal Case No. 1017 - Monitored the competitive auction for electricity for Standard Offer Service (SOS) for District consumers who do not purchase their electricity from a competitive supplier and approved the new rates for SOS service.
• Formal Case No. 1076 - Addressed the findings, conclusions and recommendations contained in the Final Report: Siemens Management Audit of Pepco’s System Reliability; Found that Pepco’s 2% Least Performing Feeder Program has been unable to provide sustained improvements in feeder reliability performance (Order No. 18167). In 2017, the Commission will consider how improvements in feeder reliability can be achieved.
• Formal Case Nos. 1116 and 1121 - Continued steps toward implementation of the Commission’s Orders concerning the Electric Company Infrastructure Improvement Financing Act of 2013, which Orders were affirmed by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in January 2016 (FC 1116-2016-E-236); Accepted for filing the Joint Application of Pepco and the District Department of Transportation for Approval of Triennial Underground Infrastructure Improvement Projects; Held the Joint Application in abeyance pending resolution of financing issues (Order No. 18585); Participated in the Underground Projects Consumer Education Task Force.
• Formal Case No. 1119 - On August 27, 2015, issued (Order No. 17947) which denied the Joint Application of Exelon Corporation, Pepco Holdings Inc. and Pepco for approval of a change of control of Pepco and found that the proposed merger as filed was not in the public interest; Considered a Nonunanimous Full Settlement Agreement and Stipulation (NSA) filed by Joint Applicants, the Office of the People’s Counsel, the District of Columbia Government, the National Consumer Law Center, the National Housing Trust, and the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington; Rejected the NSA, with one Commissioner proposing alternative terms for a Revised NSA that would, if accepted by the settling parties, result in the approval of the Revised NSA and the merger application (Order No. 18109); Considered a Request for Other Relief filed by the Joint Applicants, agreeing to the alternative terms, and concluded that the merger, as revised, was in the public interest (Orders No. 18148 and 18160); Denied applications for reconsideration of the approval of the Pepco/Exelon merger (Order No. 18243). An appeal of the Commission’s decision was pending at the end of 2016.
• Formal Case No. 1119 (Commitment Tracker) - Created a Merger Commitment Tracker to identify the conditions placed upon Pepco and Exelon in the Merger Orders, and to follow the progress made by the companies on those commitments; Created a public version of the Commitment Tracker to be updated every month that will allow members of the public to see whether the companies have lived up to their commitments.
• Formal Case No. 1120 - Accepted Pepco’s Implementation Plan for a methodology for calculating the Residential Aid Credit (RAC) for the Residential Aid Discount (RAD) Program, a low-income assistance program for electricity customers in the District, including a RAC equal to the full distribution charge, resulting in a discount of approximately 30% for the average RAD customer, and allowing the RAD customer full portability of the discount (Order No. 18152).
• Formal Case No. 1130 - Continued an inquiry into Modernizing the Energy Distribution System for Increased Sustainability (MEDSIS) to explore aspects of grid modernization and new developments that are fundamentally changing how electricity is being generated and delivered; Hosted a workshop to consider further the operational and regulatory changes that need to occur to allow use of more distributed energy resources, including presenters from, among others, the United States General Service Administration, the District Department of Energy and the Environment (DOEE), PJM Interconnection, Solar City, Pennoni Associates, and the IEEE; Continued work on a Staff Report for future development of a modern distribution system in the District of Columbia, including consideration of pilot programs to be supported by a $21.55 million sustainability fund created by Pepco and Exelon as one of the merger commitments.
• Participation in Proceedings Before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) - Participated in settlement negotiations that were approved by FERC in February 2016 to reduce the transmission formula rates of multiple Mid-Atlantic utilities, including Pepco, that are administered through PJM and passed-through to utilities’ customers; Participated in a second FERC proceeding to re-allocate the construction costs of numerous new, high voltage transmission infrastructure projects located in the PJM area resulting in a reduction of the amount of new project costs to be shifted to PJM’s eastern area transmission owners, including Pepco.

Matters Involving Gas

• Formal Case No. 874 - Required that the Gas Procurement Working Group reevaluate WGL Co’s procurement practices given changes in the retail natural gas market. (Order No. 18552); Directed the Working Group to discuss and recommend how the Gas Procurement report can be revised and streamlined to help in evaluating natural gas supply planning and acquisition in a restructured retail market. The Commission expects to consider the results of the reevaluation in 2017.
• Formal Case Nos. 1115 and 1027 - Considered progress in two Washington Gas Light Company construction programs: the Vintage Mechanical Coupling Replacement and Encapsulation Program and the Accelerated Pipeline Replacement Program; Reviewed a management audit of the Vintage Coupling Program and ordered new reporting requirements; Ordered that the parties convene a technical conference to discuss a project management tool that could be used to improve implementation of the two programs; (Order No. 18566); Reviewed construction documents and plans; Participated in Consumer Education events.
• Formal Case 1126 - Directed WGL to refund to District ratepayers an estimated $2.4 million for over-delivery of natural gas during the 2008-2009 winter heating season (Order No. 18505); Ordered that the refund take place through a credit to the Actual Cost Adjustment, or the cost of gas; Required WGL to provide additional reporting on under- or over-deliveries of gas both to the Commission and to the Gas Procurement Working Group.
• Formal Case No. 1127 - Continued the formal case to address the discount program for low-income natural gas customers in the District, the Residential Essential Service (RES) program; Adopted a new methodology for computing the credit associated with the RES Program, which simplified the computation and concluded that the program should be limited to the heating season, rather than year-round (Order No. 18565); Determined that the RES discount should be applied to the distribution portion of the bill such that the discount is approximately 25% of the total bill; Began oversight of WGL implementation of the new RES program.
• Formal Case No. 1137 - Received a February 26, 2016 application from Washington Gas Light Company for a rate increase; Reviewed testimony and exhibits from witnesses from WGL, OPC and the Apartment and Office Building Association; Convened Community Hearings to solicit comment from interested citizens; and conducted evidentiary hearings. The Commission will determine the outcome of the rate case in 2017.

Matters Involving Telecommunications

• RM28-2016-01 Universal Service - Launched a rulemaking to amend Universal Service rules to achieve consistency with changes in the Federal Communications Commission Lifeline Modernization (Order No. 18609).
• Formal Case No. 1102 - Approved changes in Verizon’s procedural manuals and other materials to make it clear that consumers have the ability to retain copper facilities and have those facilities repaired.

Matters Involving Multi-Utilities

• Formal Case No. 1125 - Addressed promotion of the four Utility Discount Programs (UDP) in the District of Columbia: the Customer Assistance Program for water customers; Lifeline for telephone customers; Residential Aid Discount for electric customers; and Residential Essential Service for gas customers through the Utility Discount Program Education Working Group, comprising WGL, Pepco, Verizon DC, DC Water, DOEE, OPC, and the Commission; Oversaw the Consumer Education Program, a multimedia program that targets low-income utility consumers in the District of Columbia to inform them of the four UDPs available.

Pepco-Exelon Merger Commitments

The DCPSC approved the Pepco-Exelon Merger on March 23, 2016 (F.C. No. 1119). In our efforts to keep the public informed regarding Pepco-Exelon’s Merger Commitments, the Commission has developed a tracking system to monitor and update Pepco and Exelon’s progress in meeting their 128 commitments.

Pepco-Exelon Commitments Tracking Matrix is available at http://dcpsc.org/fc1119mergertrackingmatrix.aspx