4901:1-37-04. General provisions

(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, shall 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 shall 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 competitors 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 utilities 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 shall strictly follow 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, and such log shall be subject to review by the commission and its staff.

Replaces: 4901:1-20-16

Five Year Review (FYR) Dates: 10/17/2014 and 10/17/2019
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 4928.17, 4928.06
Rule Amplifies: 4928.17
Prior Effective Dates: 3/10/00, 10/23/04, 4/2/09

Prior History: (Five Year Review (FYR) Dates: 10/17/2014 and 10/17/2019
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 4928.17, 4928.06
Rule Amplifies: 4928.17
Prior Effective Dates: 3/10/00, 10/23/04, 4/2/09)