Public Utilities Commission Grants Extraordinary Protection for Highly Confidential Customer Information

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has issued an interim decision waiving response time and granting an unopposed motion for extraordinary protection of highly confidential customer information. In Decision No. R24-0714-I, the Commission granted a motion filed by Public Service Company of Colorado (Public Service) on September 3, 2024, seeking extraordinary protection for highly confidential customer information. The motion was filed in response to a request from the Colorado Communication and Utilities Alliance, the Town of Morrison, and the Cities of Arvada, Aurora, Centennial, Northglenn, and Wheat Ridge for a declaratory order regarding Public Service's customer-owned lighting tariff and payment responsibility for state and interstate highway streetlighting.

The Public Utilities Commission evaluated Public Service's motion and determined that the company had satisfied the requirements for highly confidential protection under Commission Rule 1101(b). The Commission found that Public Service had provided a sufficient description of the information for which it sought protection and had shown that the information was highly confidential and that the protection afforded by the Commission's rules for furnishing confidential information provided insufficient protection.

Key Takeaways:

• Public Service Company of Colorado's Unopposed Motion for Extraordinary Protection of Highly Confidential Customer Information was granted by the Public Utilities Commission on October 9, 2024.
• The Commission determined that Public Service had satisfied the requirements for highly confidential protection under Commission Rule 1101(b) and granted a waiver of response time.
• The decision was effective immediately, and the Commission ordered that the highly confidential information be protected from disclosure to all parties except the Commissioners, ALJs, the Commission's advisory staff and attorneys, and a reasonable number of attorneys and subject matter experts for each party to the case.
• The motion was filed in response to a request from the Colorado Communication and Utilities Alliance, the Town of Morrison, and the Cities of Arvada, Aurora, Centennial, Northglenn, and Wheat Ridge for a declaratory order regarding Public Service's customer-owned lighting tariff and payment responsibility for state and interstate highway streetlighting.
• The Commission considered the requirements of Commission Rule 1101(e), which states that information subject to highly confidential protection and provided in response to discovery or in response to Commission staff audit shall not be filed with the Commission.

Statistics:

• Public Service Company of Colorado filed an Unopposed Motion for Extraordinary Protection on September 3, 2024, 23 days before the Commission's decision was issued on October 9, 2024.
• The Commission received no opposition to the motion and granted the request for waiver of response time to the motion.
• The decision was issued by Administrative Law Judge Aviv Segev and is effective immediately.

Sources:

• Decision No. R24-0714-I, Public Utilities Commission of the State of Colorado, October 9, 2024
• Public Service Company of Colorado's Unopposed Motion for Extraordinary Protection of Highly Confidential Customer Information, filed September 3, 2024
• Public Utilities Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure, 4 CCR 723-1
• Commission Rule 1101(b) and (e)