Ohio Administrative Code
Title 4901:1 - Utilities
Chapter 4901:1-37 - Electric Utility and Affiliates
Section 4901:1-37-04 - General provisions
Universal Citation: OH Admin Code 4901:1-37-04
Current through all regulations passed and filed through March 18, 2024
(A) Structural safeguards.
(1) Each electric utility and its affiliates
that provide services to customers within the electric utility's service
territory shall function independently of each other.
(2) Each electric utility and its affiliates
that provide services to customers within the electric utility's service
territory shall not share facilities and services if such sharing in any way
violates paragraph (D) of this rule.
(3) Cross-subsidies between an electric
utility and its affiliates are prohibited. An electric utility's operating
employees and those of its affiliates shall function independently of each
other.
(4) An electric utility may
not share employees and/or facilities with any affiliate, if the sharing, in
any way, violates paragraph (D) of this rule.
(5) An electric utility shall ensure that all
shared employees appropriately record and charge their time based on fully
allocated costs.
(6) Transactions
made in accordance with rules, regulations, or service agreements approved by
the federal energy regulatory commission, securities and exchange commission,
and the commission, which rules the electric utility shall maintain in its cost
allocation manual (CAM) and file with the commission,
provide a rebuttable presumption of
compliance with the costing principles contained in this chapter.
(B) Separate accounting.
Each electric utility and its affiliates shall maintain, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and an applicable uniform system of accounts, books, records, and accounts that are separate from the books, records, and accounts of its affiliates.
(C) Financial arrangements.
Unless otherwise approved by the commission, the financial arrangements of an electric utility are subject to the following restrictions:
(1) Any indebtedness
incurred by an affiliate shall be without recourse to the electric
utility.
(2) An electric utility
shall not enter into any agreement with terms under which the electric utility
is obligated to commit funds to maintain the financial viability of an
affiliate.
(3) An electric utility
shall not make any investment in an affiliate under any circumstances in which
the electric utility would be liable for the debts and/or liabilities of the
affiliate incurred as a result of actions or omissions of an
affiliate.
(4) An electric utility
shall not issue any security for the purpose of financing the acquisition,
ownership, or operation of an affiliate.
(5) An electric utility shall not assume any
obligation or liability as a guarantor, endorser, surety, or otherwise with
respect to any security of an affiliate.
(6) An electric utility shall not pledge,
mortgage, or use as collateral any assets of the electric utility for the
benefit of an affiliate.
(D) Code of conduct.
(1) The electric utility shall not release
any proprietary customer information (e.g., individual customer load profiles
or billing histories) to an affiliate, or otherwise, without the prior
authorization of the customer, except as required by a regulatory agency or
court of law.
(2) On or after the
effective date of this chapter, the electric utility shall make customer lists,
which include name, address, and telephone number, available on a
nondiscriminatory basis to all nonaffiliated and affiliated certified retail
electric service providers transacting business in its service territory,
unless otherwise directed by the customer. This provision does not apply to
customer-specific information, obtained with proper authorization, necessary to
fulfill the terms of a contract, or information relating to the provision of
general and administrative support services. This information
will not
be used by the certified retail electric service providers for any other
purpose than the marketing of electric service to the customer.
(3) Employees of the electric utility's
affiliates shall not have access to any information about the electric
utility's transmission or distribution systems (e.g., system operations,
capability, price, curtailments, and ancillary services) that is not
contemporaneously available, readily accessible, and in the same form and
manner available to a nonaffiliated competitor providing retail electric
service.
(4) An electric utility
shall treat as confidential all information obtained from a competitive retail
electric service provider, both affiliated and nonaffiliated, and shall not
release such information, unless a competitive retail electric service provider
provides authorization to do so or unless the information was or thereafter
becomes available to the public other than as a result of disclosure by the
electric utility.
(5) The electric
utility shall not tie (or allow an affiliate to tie), as defined by state and
federal antitrust laws, or otherwise condition the provision of the electric
utility's regulated services, discounts, rebates, fee waivers, or any other
waivers of the electric utility's ordinary terms and conditions of service,
including but not limited to tariff provisions, to the taking of any goods
and/or services from the electric utility's affiliates.
(6) The electric utility shall ensure
effective competition in the provision of retail electric service by avoiding
anticompetitive subsidies flowing from a noncompetitive retail electric service
to a competitive retail electric service or to a product or service other than
retail electric service, and vice versa.
(7) The electric utility, upon request from a
customer, shall provide a complete list of all competitive retail electric
service providers operating on the system, but shall not endorse any
competitive retail electric service providers, indicate that an electric
services company is an affiliate, or indicate that any competitive retail
electric service provider will receive preference because of an affiliate
relationship.
(8) The electric
utility shall use reasonable efforts to ensure retail electric service
consumers protection against unreasonable sales practices, market deficiencies,
and market power and the electric utility's compliance officer shall promptly
report any such unreasonable sales practices, market deficiencies, and market
power to the director of the rates and analysis department (or their
designee).
(9) Employees of the
electric utility or persons representing the electric utility shall not
indicate a preference for an affiliated electric services company.
(10) The electric utility shall provide
comparable access to products and services related to tariffed products and
services and specifically comply with the following:
(a) An electric utility shall be prohibited
from unduly discriminating in the offering of its products and/or
services.
(b) The electric utility
shall apply all tariff provisions in the same manner to the same or similarly
situated entities, regardless of any affiliation or nonaffiliation.
(c) The electric utility shall not, through a
tariff provision, a contract, or otherwise, give its affiliates or customers of
affiliates preferential treatment or advantages over nonaffiliated competitors
of retail electric service or their customers in matters relating to any
product and/or service.
(d) The
electric utility strictly follows all tariff provisions.
(e) Except to the extent allowed by any
applicable law, regulation, or commission order, the electric utility shall not
be permitted to provide discounts, rebates, or fee waivers for any retail
electric service.
(11)
Shared representatives or shared employees of the electric utility and
affiliated electric services company shall clearly disclose upon whose behalf
their public representations are being made when such representations concern
the entity's provision of electric services.
(E) Emergency.
(1) Notwithstanding the foregoing, in a
declared emergency situation, an electric utility may take actions necessary to
ensure public safety and system reliability.
(2) The electric utility shall maintain a log
of all such actions that do not comply with this chapter,
that is subject to review by the commission and its
staff.
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