The Commission's policies regarding essential use customers and transportation services were developed through several generic proceedings over the past decade. This docket focuses on the designation of schools as essential use facilities and whether this designation should be retained, modified or dropped.
Staff recommends that the designation of schools as essential use customers be dropped.
Staff includes in this definition any school facility or building that is being used for educational, recreational, administrative or operational purposes. Any facilities associated with a school that are used for residential purposes, such as a dormitory, would remain under the essential use designation. Staff also recommends that there should be a two year transition period during which essential use customers choosing to move to transportation services file statements with the LDC acknowledging the risks they are assuming. In the Enunciation of Principles, the Commission adopted a conservative approach to essential use facilities and their ability to make choices in the newly emerging energy marketplace. Given the nature of their operations, the Commission felt it necessary to place severe restrictions on their ability to use non-utility suppliers of natural gas.