860-038-0590 Transmission and Distribution Access (1) An electric company may be relieved of some or all of the requirements of this rule by placing its transmission facilities under the control of a regional transmission organization consistent with FERC Order No. 2000 and obtaining Commission approval of an exemption. (2) An ESS may request transmission service, distribution service or ancillary services under standard Commission tariffs and FERC-approved tariffs. The electric company must coordinate the filings of these tariffs to ensure that all retail and direct access consumers are offered comparable services at comparable prices. (3) Except as otherwise directed by OAR 860-038-0290, each electric company must provide nondiscriminatory access to transmission, distribution and ancillary services, including transmission into import-limited areas and local generation resources within import-limited areas, to serve all retail consumers. An electric company may not give preference or priority in transmission and distribution pricing, transmission and distribution access, or access to, pricing of, or provision of ancillary services and local generation resources, to itself or its affiliate relative to persons or entities requesting transmission or distribution access to serve direct access consumers. No preference or priority may be given to, nor any different obligation assigned to, any consumer based solely on whether the consumer is purchasing service from an electric company or an ESS. (a) Any transmission or distribution capacity to which an electric company has entitlements, by ownership or by contract, for the purpose of serving its Oregon load must be made available to an electric company and ESSs that are serving such load on at least a pro rata basis. An electric company must describe in its tariff filings how it proposes to provide substantively comparable transmission and distribution service to all retail consumers at the same or similar rates if: (A) Access to the electric company's transmission or distribution facilities or entitlements is restricted by contract or by regulatory obligations in other jurisdictions; or (B) If providing transmission or distribution service on a pro rata basis would result in stranding generating capacity owned or provided through contract by the electric company. (b) Except for those ancillary services required by FERC to be purchased from an electric company, an ESS may acquire, on behalf of the retail loads for which it is responsible, all ancillary services required relative to the transmission of electricity by any combination of: (A) Purchases under the electric company's Open Access Transmission Tariff; (B) Self-provision; or (C) Purchases from a third party. (c) Energy imbalance obligations, including the pricing of imbalances and penalties for imbalances, must be developed to reasonably minimize imbalances and to meet the needs of the direct access market environment. The electric company must address such energy imbalance obligations in its proposed FERC tariffs. Energy imbalance obligations imposed upon ESSs, including the entity serving the standard offer load, and consumers purchasing service from the electric company, must comply with the following: (A) The obligations impose substantively comparable burdens upon ESSs, including the entity serving the standard offer load, and consumers purchasing service from the electric company, and may not unreasonably differentiate between consumers that are entitled to direct access on the basis of customer class, provider of the service, or type of access; (B) The obligations recognize the practical scheduling and operational limitations associated with serving retail consumer loads in the direct access environment, but require ESSs, including the entity serving the standard offer load, to make reasonable efforts to minimize their energy imbalances on an hourly basis; (C) The obligations be designed with the objective of deterring ESSs, including the entity serving the standard offer load, and consumers purchasing service from the electric company from burdening electric system operation or gaining economic advantage by under-scheduling, over-scheduling, under-generating or over-generating. The obligations may not be punitive in nature; and (D) The obligations enable an electric company and ESSs, including the entity serving the standard offer load, to settle for energy imbalance obligations on a financial basis, unless otherwise mutually agreed to by the parties. (d) Where local generation is required to operate for electric system security or where there is insufficient transmission import capability to serve retail loads without the use of local generation, the electric company must make services available from such local generation under its ownership or control to ESSs consistent with the electric company's provision of services to standard offer consumers, residential consumers, and other retail consumers. The electric company must also specify such obligations in appropriate sales contracts prior to any divestiture of such resources. (e) The electric company's tariffs must specify prices, terms, and conditions for scheduling, billing, and settlement. Other functions may be specified as needed. (f) An electric company's tariffs must include a dispute resolution process to resolve issues between the electric company and the ESSs that serve the retail load of an electric company in a timely manner. Such processes must provide that unresolved disputes related to such retail access matters may be appealed to the Commission. (4) If adherence to this rule requires FERC approval of tariff or contract provisions, the electric company must petition FERC for the approval of the tariff or contract provisions in a timely manner. Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 183, ORS 756 & ORS 757 Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 756.040 & ORS 757.600 - 757.667 History: PUC 9-2023, amend filed 09/15/2023, effective 09/15/2023 PUC 7-2001, f. & cert. ef. 3-15-01