Public Utilities Commission Grants Extraordinary Protection to Public Service Company's Vendor Contracts

Strategic Insights -

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has issued an interim decision granting extraordinary protection to Public Service Company of Colorado's (Public Service) vendor contracts for its demand-side management and beneficial electrification plan for calendar year 2023. The decision, issued on December 30, 2022, grants the Motion for Extraordinary Protection filed by Public Service on December 2, 2022, which seeks to limit access to the final executed vendor contracts with third-party implementers for highly confidential treatment.

Public Service initiated this matter by filing its Application and Direct Testimony requesting Commission approval of the 2023 Electric and Natural Gas Demand-Side Management (DSM) and Beneficial Electrification (BE) Plan on July 1, 2022. The plan includes comprehensive descriptions of each of the electric and gas DSM programs that Public Service proposes to implement for calendar year 2023, including BE measures required by Senate Bill 21-246, effective September 7, 2021.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Colorado Public Utilities Commission granted extraordinary protection to Public Service Company's vendor contracts for its demand-side management and beneficial electrification plan for calendar year 2023.
  • The protection is granted for finalized executed vendor contracts with third-party implementers for highly confidential treatment, limiting access to Commissioners, Commission Advisors and Commission Advisory Counsel, Commission Staff and Staff Counsel, and the UCA and its attorneys.
  • Public Service Company argued that disclosure of the highly confidential information could cause competitive harm to third-party implementers and vendors as well as to the Company's ability to obtain the most favorable vendor pricing and terms and conditions.
  • The Commission found good cause to grant the Motion for Extraordinary Protection, designating the categories of competitively sensitive information identified in the Motion for Extraordinary Protection as highly confidential.
  • The Commission's rules for furnishing confidential information were deemed insufficient in protecting the highly confidential information, and the proposed non-disclosure agreements in Attachments A and B were deemed sufficient for protecting the highly confidential information.
  • Iconergy's argument that the age of the highly confidential information makes it less competitively sensitive or that disclosure of the highly confidential information would allow for more competitive future bids was unpersuasive.
  • The Commission granted Public Service's Motion for Leave to Reply, which emphasized that protection for these contracts is appropriate because they are currently in effect and the vendors and Public Service have a direct competitive interest in protecting the terms of the current contracts.

Statistics:

  • 7 electric and gas DSM programs that Public Service proposes to implement for calendar year 2023.
  • 3 categories of competitively sensitive information identified in the Motion for Extraordinary Protection, including: (1) New construction, Energy Design Assistance; (2) Business Energy Assessments, Building Assessment & Targeted Building Assessment, and Business Energy Assessments (Commercial Streamlined Assessment); and (3) Strategic Energy Management.
  • 4 CCR 723-1, the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, which was cited in the decision.

Sources:

  • Decision No. C22-0843-I, issued by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on December 30, 2022.
  • Proceeding No. 22A-0315EG, a matter before the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Colorado.