Before the Public Service Commission of Maryland in the Matter of The
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BEFORE THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF MARYLAND IN THE MATTER OF THE MERGER ) OF EXELON CORPORATION AND ) CASE NO. 9361 PEPCO HOLDINGS, INC. ) SURREBUTAL TESTIMONY OF PAUL R. PETERSON ON BEHALF OF MARYLAND OFFICE OF PEOPLE’S COUNSEL January 21, 2015 Office of People’s Counsel Peterson Surrebuttal Page 2 of 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. I. STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS ............................................................ 3 II. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY OF SURREBUTTAL TESTIMONY ............... 3 III. SURREBUTAL TESTIMONY ............................................................................ 3 Office of People’s Counsel Peterson Surrebuttal Page 3 of 7 1 I. STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS 2 Q. Please state your name and business address. 3 A. My name is Paul R. Peterson. I am a Principal with Synapse Energy Economics, 4 Inc. a consulting Company with an address of 485 Massachusetts Avenue, 5 Cambridge, Massachusetts. 6 Q. Have you previously testified in this proceeding? 7 A. Yes, I submitted direct testimony on behalf of the Maryland Office of People’s 8 Counsel on December 8, 2015. Information on my educational background and 9 professional qualifications was included in that direct testimony. 10 II. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY OF SURREBUTTAL TESTIMONY 11 Q. What is the purpose of your surrebuttal testimony in this proceeding? 12 The purpose of my surrebuttal testimony is to respond to rebuttal testimony 13 submitted by Joint Applicants. Specifically, I respond to portions of the rebuttal 14 testimony of Joint Applicants witnesses Julie R. Solomon, Charles R. Dickerson, 15 and Susan F. Tierney. My surrebuttal testimony focuses on the reduced 16 competition that will result from this merger, the increase in concentration of 17 ownership of resources, and the potential for harm to Maryland customers that 18 arises from that reduced competition and concentration. 19 III. SURREBTUAL TESTIMONY 20 Q. What are your responses to Ms. Solomon’s rebuttal testimony? 21 A. Ms. Solomon attempts to dismiss my concerns about the merged company’s 22 increased quantities of demand resources; involvement in generation 23 interconnection studies; development of line ratings; and opportunity to abandon Office of People’s Counsel Peterson Surrebuttal Page 4 of 7 1 PJM as mere repetitions of concerns expressed by the IMM. Ms. Solomon does 2 not dispute that these concerns are factually true; instead she argues that there is 3 no evidence that Exelon has engaged in any improper behavior to date and no 4 certainty that Exelon will engage in improper behavior in the future. I hope she is 5 right, but I remain concerned that she is not.1 6 I reiterate my recommendation to establish oversight protections through the use 7 of third parties to review Exelon’s (1) submittal of offers of demands resources in 8 energy, capacity, and reserve markets; (2) interconnection studies for generation 9 and transmission competitors; and (3) line ratings for its transmission facilities. I 10 also reiterate my recommendation that Exelon agree to remain in PJM as a 11 condition of this merger. 12 Q. What is your response regarding competitive Standard Offer Service? 13 A. The most recent SOS auction had one bidder. Ms. Solomon does not claim that 14 the merger will increase competition in future SOS auctions.2 The merger will 15 make it less likely that a PHI affiliate competes against an Exelon affiliate in a 16 future SOS auction. 17 Q. What is your response to Mr. Dickerson? 18 A. In his Rebuttal testimony, Mr. Dickerson identifies all the procedures and 19 reporting mechanisms in place to ensure that reported line ratings are accurate.3 20 My concerns are not resolved by the existing reporting systems. My 1 Solomon Rebuttal at 21-22. 2 Solomon Rebuttal at 22-23. 3 Dickerson Rebuttal at 11-16. Office of People’s Counsel Peterson Surrebuttal Page 5 of 7 1 recommendation to have periodic, independent reviews of all Exelon reported line 2 ratings is to ensure that all judgment calls regarding line ratings or revisions to 3 line ratings in particular zones are not coincident with generation dispatches that 4 favor Exelon’s generating resources due to the line ratings. I believe this is the 5 crux of the IMM’s concern regarding line ratings, as well, and I have not seen 6 anything in the record in this docket from the Joint Applicants that addresses that 7 concern. 8 Q. What is your response to Ms. Tierney? 9 A. In her Rebuttal testimony, Ms. Tierney contends that Exelon’s voting share is 10 small in the PJM stakeholder process that consists of over 500 voting members. 11 She also describes the sector-weighted voting that occurs at the PJM senior 12 committees.4 I continue to be concerned that the merged Exelon will eliminate the 13 independent perspective of Pepco in the PJM stakeholder process. 14 As an example, consider the three sector-weighted votes on Agenda Item 15 03 at the Members Committee on December 9, 2013.5 That agenda item involved 16 rule changes regarding the treatment of Demand Response as an Operational 17 Capacity Resource. Exelon voted as a member of the Transmission Owners 18 sector; Pepco voted as a member of the Electric Distributors sector. On the first 19 vote, Exelon voted in favor of the motion; Pepco voted opposed to the motion; 20 and the motion failed. On the second vote, on an amended motion, Exelon voted 4 Tierney Rebuttal at 39-42. 5 The votes of all Members Committee meetings are recorded in voting reports posted on the PJM web site at http://www.pjm.com/committees-and-groups/committees/mc.aspx with the materials for the meeting where the vote took place. The Draft Minutes for the December 9, 2013 Members Committee Meeting are attached as Attachment PRP –S1. Office of People’s Counsel Peterson Surrebuttal Page 6 of 7 1 in favor; Pepco voted in favor; and the motion failed. On the third vote, on an 2 amended motion, Exelon voted against; Pepco voted in favor; and the motion 3 passed. 4 As a second example, consider the three sector-weighted votes at the 5 Members Committee on November 21, 2013, on the Agenda Item 04 issue of how 6 Limited Demand Response resources would clear in RPM auctions.6 On the first 7 vote, Exelon voted against the motion; Pepco abstained; and the “ODEC package” 8 motion failed with 2.92. On the second vote, Exelon voted in favor; Pepco voted 9 against; and the “Package A” motion failed with 2.23. On the third vote, Exelon 10 voted against; Pepco abstained; and the “Package B” motion failed with 2.71. 11 PJM’s sector-weighted voting process requires a two-thirds vote to pass (3.33 or 12 better). On this agenda item, the only package Exelon supported was the only 13 package that Pepco opposed; it received the least support of the three packages. 14 The merger proposed by Joint Applicants will eliminate any role for Pepco 15 in the PJM voting process, including the role of presenting a different point of 16 view than Exelon’s point of view as demonstrated by the two examples, described 17 above, of agenda item votes at Members Committee meetings in 2013. If Pepco 18 retains an independent role in the PJM stakeholder process, Pepco may have an 19 impact beyond just its single vote; it may be able to influence the voting decisions 20 of other members in its sector. 21 Q. Does this complete your Surrebuttal testimony? 6 The Draft Minutes of the November 21, 2013 Members Committee Meeting are attached as Attachment PRP-S2. Office of People’s Counsel Peterson Surrebuttal Page 7 of 7 1 A. Yes. However, I reserve the right to supplement my testimony subject to further 2 updates to discovery and information provided in this proceeding. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Attchment PRP-S1 - (MC 12-9-2013) DRAFT Minutes PJM Interconnection Members Committee One Hundred-Thirty-seventh Meeting Teleconference/WebEx and The Conference and Training Center, Valley Forge, PA December 9, 2013 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon EPT Secretary/Chair: Horton Dana AEP Transmission Owner Fitch Neal NRG Power Marketing, LLC Generation Owner Voting Members Present: Last Name First Name Company Sector Barker Jason Exelon Business Services Company, LLC Transmission Owner Batta Michael Virginia Electric & Power Company Transmission Owner Borgatti Michael Rep.'g Covanta Energy Group, Inc. Generation Owner Borgatti Michael Rep.'g Jersey Green Energy LLC Other Supplier Borgatti Michael Rep.'g RC Cape May Holdings, LLC Generation Owner Borgatti Michael Rep.'g Richland-Stryker Generation LLC Generation Owner Borgatti Michael Rep.'g York County Solid Waste and Refuse Authority Generation Owner Brodbeck John Potomac Electric Power Company Electric Distributor Bruce Susan Rep.'g Air Liquide Industrial U.S., LP End User Customer Bruce Susan Rep.'g Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. End User Customer Bruce Susan Rep.'g Gerdau Ameristeel Energy, Inc. Other Supplier Bruce Susan Rep.'g Industrial Energy Users-Ohio Other Supplier Bruce Susan Rep.'g Kimberly-Clark Corporation Generation Owner Bruce Susan Rep.'g Lehigh Portland Cement Company End User Customer Bruce Susan Rep.'g Letterkenny Industrial Development Authority Electric Distributor Bruce Susan Rep.'g Linde LLC End User Customer Bruce Susan Rep.'g MeadWestvaco Corporation End User Customer Bruce Susan Rep.'g Occidental Power Services, Inc. Other Supplier Bruce Susan Rep.'g Praxair, Inc. End User Customer Bruce Susan Rep.'g Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company (The) End User Customer Bruce Susan Rep.'g Trustees of the U of PA, dba University of Pennsylvania End User Customer Bruce Susan Rep.'g Wellsboro Electric Company (pre-2008) Electric Distributor Campbell Bruce Rep.'g EnergyConnect, Inc.