§ 46-4-153.1 - Certificates of authority for EMC gas affiliates; terms and conditions; requirements - Georgia Statutes

O.C.G.A. 46-4-153.1 (2010)
46-4-153.1. Certificates of authority for EMC gas affiliates; terms and conditions; requirements

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article or Article 4 of Chapter 3 of this title, the commission shall have authority to issue certificates of authority to an EMC gas affiliate but shall not have authority to issue certificates of authority to an electric membership corporation. The commission's order granting a certificate of authority to an EMC gas affiliate shall include terms and conditions to govern the relationship between the electric membership corporation and its EMC gas affiliate. The terms and conditions shall be designed to prevent cross-subsidization between the provision of electricity and the provision of natural gas services, to encourage and promote fair competition in the overall retail natural gas market, and to protect the privacy of both electric and natural gas consumers.

(b) The order by the commission pursuant to this Code section shall include the requirements set forth in this subsection, as well as such other rules as the commission shall determine are necessary to protect electric and natural gas consumers and promote competition:

(1) To ensure that cross-subsidizations do not occur between the electricity services of an electric membership corporation and the gas activities of its gas affiliate, the terms and conditions ordered by the commission shall provide that each electric membership corporation having a gas affiliate shall:

(A) Fully allocate all electricity activities costs and gas activities costs, including costs for any shared services, between the electric membership corporation's electricity activities and the gas activities of its gas affiliate, in accordance with the applicable uniform system of accounts and generally accepted accounting principles, as applicable;

(B) Develop and maintain a cost allocation manual, approved by the commission, describing the electric membership corporation's methods of cost allocation and such other information and policies reasonably required by the commission to ensure compliance with this article and the terms and conditions ordered by the commission. Such manual shall:

(i) Establish rules for the pricing of transactions between an electric membership corporation and its gas affiliate, including the transfer of assets between the two;

(ii) Provide that any loans from the electric membership corporation to its gas affiliate shall be at market rates, shall not reflect rates which are generally available through the use of any tax exempt financing, and may not be tied to any loans from the federal or state government;

(iii) Require the electric membership corporation and its gas affiliate to maintain separate books of accounts and records which shall, subject to the commission's rules for treatment of trade secrets, be subject to production and inspection by the commission for the sole purpose of confirming compliance with this article, the cost allocation manual, and the terms and conditions of the gas affiliate's certificate; and

(iv) Require the annual filing of a statement with the commission certifying the compliance by the electric membership corporation and its gas affiliate with the approved cost allocation manual; and

(C) Not charge any costs of the gas affiliate to the electricity customers of the electric membership corporation; and

(2) To protect customer privacy and prevent the misuse of customer information, the terms and conditions ordered by the commission shall provide that no electric membership corporation shall release any proprietary customer information to its gas affiliate without obtaining prior verifiable authorization from the customer, as determined in accordance with rules established by the commission.

(c) The commission may require that any customer service that an electric membership corporation provides to its gas affiliate be offered to all marketers at the same rate and on the same terms and conditions as provided to the gas affiliate. Any such services provided to the gas affiliate or marketers must be on a strictly confidential basis, such that the electric membership corporation does not share information regarding one marketer with any other marketer, including an EMC gas affiliate.

(d) The terms and conditions shall accommodate the organizational structures of electric membership corporations.

(e) To assure separate but coordinating governance of an electric membership corporation and its gas affiliate, the terms and conditions shall prohibit more than one-half of the persons serving as members of the board of directors of a gas affiliate from at the same time serving on the board of directors of an electric membership corporation.

(f) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Code section, the commission shall make accommodation for the specific legal requirements imposed by state or federal laws applicable to electric membership corporations and other cooperatives.