2010 Pennsylvania Code
Title 66 - PUBLIC UTILITIES
Chapter 22 - Natural Gas Competition
2209 - Market power remediation.

     § 2209.  Market power remediation.
        (a)  Interim standards of conduct.--Within 120 days of the
     effective date of this chapter, the commission shall provide by
     order binding, interim guidelines for standards of conduct
     governing the activities of and relationships between natural
     gas distribution companies and their affiliated natural gas
     suppliers and other natural gas suppliers and monitor and
     enforce compliance with those standards.
        (b)  Permanent standards of conduct.--The commission shall
     thereupon promulgate regulations setting forth permanent
     standards of conduct governing the activities of and
     relationships between natural gas distribution companies and
     their affiliated natural gas suppliers and other natural gas
     suppliers and monitor and enforce compliance with these
     standards. The commission shall neither favor nor disfavor
     conduct or operations by and between a natural gas distribution
     company and an affiliated natural gas supplier or a
     nonaffiliated natural gas supplier.
        (c)  Contents of standards.--Standards of conduct shall
     provide for:
            (1)  No discrimination against or preferential treatment
        of any natural gas supplier, including an affiliated natural
        gas supplier.
            (2)  No disclosure or preferential sharing of any
        confidential information to or with any individual natural
        gas supplier.
            (3)  Adequate rules prohibiting cross-subsidization of an
        affiliated natural gas supplier by a natural gas distribution
        company.
            (4)  Maintenance of separate books and records by the
        natural gas distribution company and its affiliated natural
        gas supplier.
            (5)  Sufficient physical and operational separation, but
        not including legal divestiture, to accomplish paragraphs
        (1), (2), (3) and (4).
            (6)  An informal dispute resolution procedure.
            (7)  A system of penalties for noncompliance with the
        final set of standards of conduct consistent with existing
        commission regulations.
        (d)  Limitation.--The standards shall not prohibit the
     natural gas distribution company and its affiliated natural gas
     supplier from using or sharing similar corporate names,
     trademarks, trade dress or service marks.
        (e)  Initiation of investigations.--Upon complaint or upon
     its own motion, for good cause shown, the commission shall
     conduct an investigation of the impact on the proper functioning
     of a fully competitive retail natural gas market of mergers,
     consolidations, acquisition or disposition of assets or
     securities of natural gas suppliers and anticompetitive or
     discriminatory conduct affecting the retail distribution of
     natural gas.
        (f)  Conduct of investigations.--
            (1)  The commission may require a natural gas supplier to
        provide information, including documents and testimony, in
        accordance with the commission's regulations regarding the
        discovery of information.
            (2)  Material which the commission determines to be
        confidential, proprietary or trade secret information
        provided under this subsection shall not be disclosed to any
        person not directly employed or retained by the commission to
        conduct the investigation without the consent of the party
        providing the information.
            (3)  Notwithstanding the prohibition on disclosure of
        information in paragraph (2), the commission shall disclose
        information obtained under this subsection to the Office of
        Consumer Advocate and the Office of Small Business Advocate
        under an appropriate confidentiality agreement. The
        commission may disclose the information to appropriate
        Federal or State law enforcement officials if it determines
        that the disclosure of the information is necessary to
        prevent or restrain a violation of Federal or State law and
        it provides the party that provided the information with
        reasonable notice and opportunity to prevent or limit
        disclosure.
        (g)  Referrals and investigation.--If, as a result of the
     investigation conducted under this section, the commission has
     reason to believe that anticompetitive or discriminatory
     conduct, including the unlawful exercise of market power, is
     preventing the retail gas customers from obtaining the benefits
     of a properly functioning and effectively competitive retail
     natural gas market, the commission, pursuant to its regulations,
     shall:
            (1)  Refer its findings to the Attorney General, the
        United States Department of Justice, the Securities and
        Exchange Commission or the Federal Energy Regulatory
        Commission.
            (2)  Subject to subsection (c)(3), disclose any
        information it has obtained in the course of its
        investigation to the agency or agencies to which it had made
        a referral under paragraph (1).
            (3)  Intervene, as provided and permitted by law or
        regulation, in any proceedings initiated as a result of a
        referral made under paragraph (1).
        (h)  Marketing standards.--As part of each natural gas
     distribution company's restructuring proceeding, the commission
     may, in its discretion, develop and apply different standards of
     conduct to the natural gas distribution company's marketing
     activities related to natural gas supply services. No such
     standards shall apply to the natural gas distribution company's
     marketing division or operations until the commission issues an
     order in the context of that natural gas distribution company's
     restructuring proceeding.
        (i)  Definition.--Subject to the conditions set forth in
     subsection (h), for the purposes of this section, the term
     "affiliated natural gas supplier" includes marketing activities
     related to natural gas supply services by the marketing division
     or the marketing operation of a natural gas distribution
     company.