| (7) Ancillary services. Until such time that all ancillary services issues are addressed and resolved within the context of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved regional transmission organization, entitlements will include rights only to energy and capacity as described in this subsection and specifically exclude any ancillary services rights. Such exclusion is consistent with subsection (e)(1) of this section, which allows products other than those described in this subsection to be offered with good cause. In the interim, the affiliated PGC shall provide the required ancillary services to eligible customers at the current FERC- approved rates. (h) Auction process. (1) Timing issues. (A) Frequency of auctions. (i) Auction dates. Capacity auctions shall begin on March 10, July 10, September 10, and November 10 of each year. If the date for an auction start falls on a weekend or banking holiday, then that auction shall begin on the first business day after the weekend or banking holiday. (ii) Simultaneous auctions. Auctions for a product will be held simultaneously by all affiliated PGCs of entitlements within the respective North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) regions in Texas. For example, ERCOT and non-ERCOT auctions can be held at different times and dates. (iii) Termination of the capacity auction process. The obligation of an affiliated PGC to auction entitlements shall continue until the earlier of 60 months after the date customer choice is introduced or the date the commission determines that 40% or more of the electric power consumed by residential and small commercial customers within the affiliated transmission and distribution utility's certificated service area before the onset of customer choice is provided by nonaffiliated retail electric providers. The determination of the 40% threshold shall be as prescribed by the commission's rule relating to the price to beat. (B) Auction conclusion. (i) Receipt of bids. In order for an affiliated PGC that is auctioning capacity to consider a bid, the bid must be received by that affiliated PGC by close of the round for which the bid is to be submitted. (ii) Concluding each individual auction. The affiliated PGC shall provide notice of the winning bid(s) to auction participants and the commission by the close of business on the first day after the auction closes that is not a weekend or banking holiday. (iii) Confidentiality and posting of bids. The affiliated PGC shall designate non-marketing personnel to evaluate the bids, and persons reviewing the bids shall not disclose the bids to any person engaged in marketing activities for the affiliated PGC or use any competitively sensitive information received in the bidding process. Upon announcement of the winning bids, the affiliated PGC shall provide the commission and all auction participants information on the quantity of each product requested by bidders during each round of an auction, but shall not divulge the identity of any particular bidders. Upon specific request by the commission, and under standard protective order procedures, the utility shall provide the identity of the bidders to the commission. (iv) The affiliated PGC shall be deemed to have met the 15% requirement if it offered products in a product category (for example, gas- intermediate) and successfully sold, at least, all of the entitlements offered in one particular month, in that product category. If there is no month in which all of the products in a product category are sold, the affiliated PGC shall comply with the provisions of paragraph (7)(C) of this subsection. (2) Auction administration. (A) Each auction shall be administered by the affiliated PGC selling the entitlement. An affiliated PGC or group of affiliated PGCs may retain the services of a qualified third-party to perform the auction administration functions. (B) Notice of capacity available for auction. (i) Method of notice. At least 60 days before each auction start date, each affiliated PGC offering capacity entitlements at auction shall file with the commission notice of the pending auction. Within 20 days of the filing of the notice, interested parties may provide comments on the affiliated PGC's proposed notice. If no comments are received, the affiliated PGC's proposed notice shall be deemed appropriate. If any party objects to the affiliated PGC's proposed notice, then the commission shall administratively approve, reject, or approve the notice with modifications. With respect to the September 10, 2003 auction: (I) Affiliated PGC's shall include a reference to Project Number 27826, Rulemaking Proceeding to Require Another Set of Two-Year Strips Under the Capacity Auction Rule, §25.381 , in their 60-day notice with a statement that the products to be auctioned in the September 2003 auction will not be fully known until after the commission finalizes Project Number 27826; and (II) Within five days after the rule amendment in Project Number 27826 becomes effective, affiliated PGC's shall revise their notice, with sufficient explanation, to accurately reflect the products to be auctioned. (ii) Contents of notice. (I) The auction notice shall include the auction start date, the date and time by which bids must be received for the first round, and the types, quantity (number of blocks), congestion zone, and term of each entitlement available in that auction. The notice shall also include the following range of bid increments for each product type to be used to adjust the price of entitlements between rounds of the auction: (-a-) Baseload - $ .05 to $ .75; (-b-) Gas-intermediate - $ .02 to $ .30; (-c-) Gas-cyclic - $ .02 to $ .30; (-d-) Gas-peaking - $ .02 to $ .30. (II) The affiliated PGC shall also specify which power generation units will be used to meet the entitlement for each type of entitlement to be auctioned. If baseload entitlements are being auctioned, the utility shall also specify the fuel cost prescribed in subsections (f)(3)(B)(ii) and (g)(2)(F)(ii) of this section at the time of the auction. If an entitlement to be auctioned is subject to the forced outage provision in subsection (e)(2)(B) of this section, then the notice must include the applicable three-year rolling average of the forced outage rate. (iii) The affiliated PGCs shall publish their respective notices and application forms on their web sites no later than 45 calendar days before the start of each auction. Each entity that intends to bid in an affiliated PGC's auction shall complete the forms, which include the first page of the cover sheet to the Agreement, and submit them to the affiliated PGC at least 20 business days before the auction starts, to allow enough time for evaluation and approval of credit. Potential bidders may submit the required documents after that time, but at the risk of not having credit and document approval in time for them to participate in the auction. (iv) Credit approval for entities bidding on capacity auction products in ERCOT or in non-ERCOT areas of Texas will be performed pursuant to subsection (e)(7) of this section. (v) The affiliated PGC shall notify an approved bidder of its available credit and send the approved bidder a completed capacity auction- specific version of the applicable Agreement, executed by the affiliated PGC, within ten business days after the bidder has submitted the required information. The approved bidder should attempt to execute and return the executed Agreement to the affiliated PGC no later than five business days before the auction starts. The executed Agreement shall be received by the affiliated PGC no later than two business days before the auction starts. The affiliated PGC shall provide a password or passwords to the approved bidder to allow access to the auction web site and to allow it to bid no later than one business day before the auction starts. An approved bidder may not request or receive additional credit after the auction starts. (vi) Specific information on how to place bids and navigate the auction sites will be provided by the affiliated PGCs to their qualified bidders prior to the beginning of the capacity auction. (3) Term of auctioned capacity. (A) Initial auction. For the initial auction in September 2001, each entitlement was one month in duration, with: (i) Approximately 20% of the entitlements auctioned as two one-year strips with the strips auctioned jointly (the 12 months of 2002 and 2003), (ii) Approximately 30% of the entitlements as one-year strips (the 12 months of 2002), and (iii) Approximately 20% of the entitlements as discrete months for each of the 12 months of 2002 (January through December of 2002) (iv) Approximately 30% of the entitlements as discrete months for the first four months of 2002 (January through April of 2002). Cont'd... |
