Maine EBT Working GroupMarch 14,meeting minutes

Attendees:

Mike Eaton, Chris Libby, Nola Amero and Nancy Charest

Angela Monroe MPUC

Jesse Mckay - Integrys Energy

Steve Adikonis -MRE

BHE Lori Omlor, Jean Holland and David Blethen

Pam Owen-SUEZ

Altaf Dewji - TransCanada

Janet Hinkfuss - Integrys

CMP – Susan Roberts, Roberta Bailey and Susan Clary

Alex Wimmer - PPL

Old Business:

The status of the package submitted to the MPUC in November of 2006? Maine EBT Working Group removed all EDI transaction set flows from the Maine EBT Standards Document (Chapter 323) and how each flow has been placed in its specific Appendix C transaction Implementation Guideline. Also, the group merged Appendix A, Technical Specification Administrative List of Fields data in to Appendix C. Appendix A will continue to be used as a Change Log for any changes to the Maine EBT Standards or Appendix C.

These changes were approved by the Maine EBT Working Group and Supplier who attended meetings in May and June of 2006.

  • Angela Monroe of the MPUC said the package should be approved sometime in April. Once the MPUC completes the rulemaking process and returns the package with it’s approval, then the package can be posted to the EDI/EBT website.

New Business:

  1. Regulatory review – per Angela Monroe of the MPUC there are no new updates.
  2. Sue Clary of CMP: Is there a need for an EDI transaction to support the Forward Capacity Market?

BHE currently passes the FCM charge via the 810 EDI transaction at the Account level loop entering the charge as a Service Charge. The request adds a manually component

Susan Roberts asked for Supplier interest in the FCM issue:

Altaf Dewji, TransCanada would like to see the utilities calculate the charge and bill it.

Alex Wimmer, PPL would like to see the utilities calculate the charge and bill it. Jasse Mckay, Integrys maybe interested will check with their Business people.

Steve Adikonis, MRE maybe interested will check with their Business people.

Questions raised on the FCM charge:

Do we need a new EDI transaction or new segments to an existing EDI transaction and what is the FCM process and does it change the current business standards of Chapter 323?

  • Mike Eaton of MPS: Is their a customer size limit? Sue Clary of CMP response: No, all customers receive ICAP Tags. However, Standard Offer, by current rule, customers do not receive this charge as a separate bill component.
  • Roberta Bailey of CMP suggested that we look at using the current rate request process. CMP’sITgroup will review their current rate design.
  • Mike Eaton of MPS asked “ Will this process fit the current ME EBT Business Standards or will the business rules need to be changed? “
  • David Blethen: suggested that we have the supplier calculate the charge then the Utilities update the individual customer account.
  • Sue Clary asked that the MPUC weigh-in on this issue. CMP has an initial estimate to automate the process and would like some regulatory guidance as to how to recover those up-front costs. Sue will talk with Angela off-line to discuss this issue further.
  • Concerns were raised about lag time of the utilities receiving the supplier calculated FCM chargedue to changing reserve margins which affect the FCM calculation.
  • Someone suggested that Suppliers look at coming up with a flat rate to bill customers as a proxy for the FCM component. Angela Monroe of the MPUC said that we would not want to even the price out.
  • Angela asked what the cost is to do this manually vs a system enhancement? Sue Clary estimated that it would take 40 man-hours to do roughly 1000 accounts for a Supplier. Sue Clary and Angela Monroe will discuss this issue further.
  • Roberta Bailey of CMP suggested that any Supplier interested in the Utility performing this process needs to submit a formal request via a “Change Request” that is detailed as possible.

After a formal request is received then the ME EBT Working Group will reconvene for a special meeting to address the FCM questions.

Are any other companies performing this? Alex Wimmer yes, Suppliers who are doing rate ready billing.

  1. Do we make the changes to Appendix C to be compliant this year or push the changes out to 2008?

Susan Roberts asked if any Suppliers at the meeting objected to moving the UIG compliance issues that were formally redlined back in May of 2005 out to 2008? All Suppliers present agreed to move the issue out to be reviewed again in 2008 as it is not impeding current Trading Partner relationships.