Market Readiness Update

Transcription

1 Market Readiness Update Updated Status of Preparations for Ontario s Competitive Retail Electricity Market April 24, 2002 Report by the Ontario Energy Board s Market Readiness Project Team

2 Executive Summary In the fall of 2000, the Minister of Energy, Science and Technology asked the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to assume responsibility for coordinating the preparations of retail market participants and, at the appropriate time, to report to the Minister as to whether the participants had achieved sufficient technical readiness to allow the new electricity market to open for competition. On December 17, 2001, based on preliminary information provided by the OEB s Market Readiness Project (MRP) team, the Chair of the OEB provided to the Minister of Energy, Science and Technology an initial assessment of the technical readiness of the retail electricity market. On January 16, 2002, following the Government s announcement that the province s electricity industry will open to competition on May 1, 2002, the MRP team provided the Board with the Market Readiness Report, a detailed review of the status of the market preparations which supported the initial assessment. This document updates the information in the Market Readiness Report, providing the latest assessment of the industry s technical readiness based on information provided by licensed distributors and retailers. In the January report, based on information provided by distributors in December, the MRP team projected that 54 of Ontario s 94 licensed electricity distributors would be ready to offer retail choice by May 1. Now, based on submissions by distributors in early April, 73 distributors, representing 93% of Ontario customers and 95% of those that have signed a contract with a retailer, expect to be ready by May 1. This information is summarized in the table below. Expected Market Readiness January Projection Number of Distributors Number of Distributors April Update Total Customers Retailer Customers Ready for May % 73 78% 3,899,350 93% 814,883 95% Ready after May % 21 22% 308,057 7% 42,890 5% TOTAL ,207, ,773 Two final market readiness activities are currently under way: As of March 4, approximately 858,000 customers had signed with a retailer. Information about these customers needs to be exchanged between the retailers and distributors so that distributors billing system can be updated. This work has progressed ahead of schedule. To date, information for 81% of these customers has been pre-processed. Page 1 April 24, 2002

3 Each of the 358 distributor-retailer pairings necessary for market opening requires that a service agreement be completed. To date, 89% of distributorretailer pairings, representing 98% of retailer customers, have either signed or in the process of signing a service agreement. After market opening, those customers that elect not to sign a contract with an electricity retailer will continue to receive service from their distributor, but at energy prices set hourly in the IMO-administered market. Submissions by distributors in April indicate that 84 distributors serving 97% of Ontario consumers expect to be ready to provide this service on May 1. Finally, after May 1, the transition to a competitive market will proceed for several weeks as distributors progress through their billing cycles. Although the effective date of SSS and retailer contract prices is May 1, most customers will not see changes in their bills until June or July, when they receive their first post-market opening bill. The earliest a customer who has signed with a retailer will receive a bill using the retailer s price will be June. In some cases it may be as late as August. The MRP staff will be following the progress of these industry activities. Page 2 April 24, 2002

4 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Background Document Purpose and Structure Scope and Limitations ENABLING RETAIL CHOICE Overall Status Pre-Enrolment Process Testing of Distributor-Retailer Interactions Commercial Arrangements PROVIDING STANDARD SUPPLY SERVICE Overall Status Testing of Standard Supply Service POST-MAY 1 ACTIVITIES Remaining Market Readiness Activities Operational Setup Activities...14 APPENDIX A INDIVIDUAL DISTRIBUTOR STATUS...17 APPENDIX B MAP OF DISTRIBUTOR STATUS...21 Page 3 April 24, 2002

5 1. Introduction 1.1 BACKGROUND In the fall of 2000, the Honourable Jim Wilson, Minister of Energy, Science and Technology asked the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to assume responsibility for coordinating the activities of retail market participants in their preparations for Ontario s competitive electricity market. Both the OEB and the Independent Electricity Market Operator (IMO) were to monitor market-readiness preparations and, at the appropriate time, report to the Minister whether market participants had achieved sufficient technical readiness to allow the new electricity market to open. The OEB established a Market Readiness Project (MRP) team and Retail Market Readiness Task Force of stakeholders to provide it with information and advice regarding the technical readiness of the retail market participants, specifically focusing on the readiness of distributors. Accordingly, in January 2001, following consultation with the newly formed Task Force, the OEB set out the activities and milestones necessary for retail market readiness. On December 17, 2001 the Chair of the OEB provided the Minister of Energy, Science and Technology with an initial assessment of the technical readiness of the retail electricity market. This initial assessment was based on a preliminary review of the information provided by distributors and the results of a retail market design test. On December 18, 2001 the Government announced that the province s electricity industry will open to competition on May 1, On January 16, 2002, the MRP team provided the Board with the Market Readiness Report, a fuller and more detailed review of the status of market preparations. The report included a review of the viability of the retail market design and the status of individual distributor readiness and confirmed the initial assessment. 1.2 DOCUMENT PURPOSE AND STRUCTURE This report provides an update on the preparations for the competitive retail market. In particular, it updates the status of individual distributors following the April market readiness submissions. The report initially reviews the distributors status with respect to providing the two choices available to customers in Ontario s competitive electricity market: 1. Customers may sign a contract with a licensed electricity retailer for the provision of electricity, typically at a fixed price. Section 2 of the report examines the status of distributors and the distributor-retailer interactions necessary to enable this choice for customers. Page 4 April 24, 2002

6 2. Alternatively, customers may elect to stay with Standard Supply Service (SSS) from their current distributor and receive electricity at market rates set in the IMO-administered market. Section 3 of the report reviews the status of distributors in the provision of SSS. Finally, May 1 is a major milestone in the rollout of the competitive market across Ontario; however, following the various billing cycles of distributors, in practice, the transition will proceed over several months. The final section of the document examines the period following market opening, outlining the industry activities necessary for a smooth transition to a fully competitive market after May SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS This document addresses readiness of distributors and their key dependencies to facilitate the competitive retail electricity market, including provision of both SSS and retail choice. It does not address readiness of the IMO-administered markets, except where preparations for these markets may affect retail market readiness. Information in this report is current as of April 18, 2002, unless otherwise noted. The assessments of distributor readiness are principally based on information provided by distributors in submissions to the Board, supplemented by interviews conducted by the MRP staff and other sources. Page 5 April 24, 2002

7 2. Enabling Retail Choice A key aspect of Ontario s competitive electricity market is the ability of customers to be supplied by a licensed electricity retailer. Distributors are responsible for facilitating retail choice for customers within their service areas. The rules for the retail market are set out in the codes, handbooks and market rules listed in the Market Opening Baseline. As of March 5, 2002, 857,773, or 20% of Ontario s 4.2 million customers, had signed retail electricity contracts with one of nine active electricity retailers 1. This is significantly more than other North American jurisdictions have experienced at market opening. For instance, in Texas the market opened on January 1, 2002 with approximately 140,000 retailer customers (2%) 2. Pennsylvania, noted as the most active US market, had fewer than 400,000 retailer customers (8%) at market opening 3. Great Britain experienced a similar total number of retailer customers at market opening in However, one million customers represents only 5% of the 26 million total customers 4. While the number of active retailers and the popularity of retail choice are measures of a robust retail market, they present an initial logistical challenge for an industry preparing to enable a competitive market across a large number of distributors. Serving a customer who has signed with a retailer requires the creation of an ongoing technical and commercial relationship between the retailer and the distributor that delivers electricity to the customer. In total, between the nine active retailers and the 94 licensed distributors there are 358 distributor-retailer relationships that need to be in place to serve all 857,773 retailer customers at market opening. For each of these distributor-retailer relationships, the retailer and distributor must: Exchange information about customers already signed with the retailer. Ensure that the systems and linkages are in place to enable exchange of billing and settlement information for these customers once the market opens. 1 While other electricity retailers have been licensed by the OEB, only nine retailers participated in the pre-enrolment process, earning the right to have their customers served from market opening. Data exchange for any customers of the remaining retailers cannot start until May 15, (See Retail Settlement Code section 14.5) 2 Minutes of the ERCOT Board of Directors Meeting. January 15, Also see Kamp, Jon. Texas Electricity Deregulation Produces A Few Glitches, January 16, Dow Jones Energy Service. 3 Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate. Pennsylvania Electric Shopping Statistics. April Office for Electricity Regulation. Competition in the Electricity Market. December Page 6 April 24, 2002

8 Execute the required commercial arrangements between both parties. The remainder of this section reviews the status of distributors ability to enable retail choice and the status of the necessary relationships between retailers and distributors. 2.1 OVERALL STATUS On April 1, distributors were to submit to the OEB a form indicating whether they will be ready, on May 1, to: 1. Undertake all mandatory transactions with retailers needed for retail choice; or alternatively 2. Undertake a specified set of transactions that are necessary for the core functions of the retail market to be operational at market opening. (Partial Retail Access) Distributors were to provide updates to the OEB if their situation changed. Of the 94 distributors, 73 indicated they will be ready to provide at least the core functions needed to support retail choice on May 1. These 73 distributors represent approximately 95% of the customers who have elected retail choice to date. A summary of the responses is provided in Table 1 below, while a detailed listing and map of individual distributor s status is provided in appendices A and B. Retailer Access Number of Distributors Total Customers Retailer Customers Yes 56 60% 2,812,254 67% 493,407 58% Partial 17 18% 1,087,096 26% 321,476 37% Total Yes 73 78% 3,899,350 93% 814,883 95% No 21 22% 308,057 7% 42,890 5% TOTAL 94 4,207, ,773 Table 1 Summary of distributor ability to provide retail choice on May 1, This demonstrates considerable progress since December. In the Market Readiness Report, the MRP team projected that 54 distributors, representing 85% of total customers, would be ready for May 1. Expected Market Readiness January Projection April Update Number of Distributors Number of Distributors Ready for May % 73 78% Ready after May % 21 22% TOTAL Table 2 Comparison of distributor readiness between the January Market Readiness Report and Market Readiness Update Page 7 April 24, 2002

9 2.2 PRE-ENROLMENT PROCESS One of the key activities needed for the initiation of retail choice is pre-enrolment. In pre-enrolment, information about customers already signed with a retailer is exchanged between the retailer and distributor so the distributor s billing system can be updated and these customers can be enrolled at market opening. Despite having fewer initial customers to process, other markets introducing retail choice have experienced difficulties in pre-enrolment 5. In order to facilitate a smooth transition, the Board established a pre-enrolment process. Initial preparations started in November 2001 and, for all but a few customers, pre-enrolment is expected to be completed within the next two weeks. The preparation process and current status are described in more detail below. Preparation Prior to starting the actual exchange of customer information, retailers and distributors completed two preparatory steps: 1. In November 2001, retailers provided distributors with information about the customers they had signed. Distributors then ensured that account numbers and other customer data gathered by retailers matched the information in the distributors billing systems. 2. The next step involved identification of cases in which customers had signed with more than one retailer. Nine retailers participated in this process, which concluded on March 15. Approximately 100,000 customer contracts were removed from pre-enrolment because the customer had already signed a contract with another retailer. The disposition of these duplicate contracts will be addressed after May 15 according to the Retail Settlement Code (RSC) provisions relating to switching retailers. Both of these preparatory activities were completed according to the schedule mandated in Chapter 14 of the RSC. Details of the process are explained in detail in the MRP team s Enrolment Cleanup Approach document. Pre-enrolment processing started on March 25, According to the schedule, retailers were to submit 10% of their enrolment requests to distributors each day until April 15. Distributors would then have ten days to respond and either accept or, if the information submitted was not correct, reject the request. All retailer requests and distributor responses were to be exchanged over the industry s network of Electronic Business Transaction (EBT) hubs and links. Execution As of April 19, all nine retailers and 72 distributors representing 97% of the retailer customers to be pre-enrolled are able to exchange enrolment requests over the EBT network (See Table 3). A further 14 distributors have agreed on alternative arrangements yet to begin, which, if met, will result in the 6,000 more customers being pre-enrolled by their first bill. (The status of individual distributors with regard to 5 See Oldham, Charlene. Will Texans plug in to plan? Regulators say system ready, but switch may be a tough sell, The Dallas Morning News December 12, Page 8 April 24, 2002

10 pre-enrolment is provided in the list of distributors in Appendix A.) Pre-Enrolment Compliance Status Distributors Retailer Customers In process or complete 72 77% 835,237 97% Not yet working, but alternative schedule agreed 14 15% 6,109 1% Not working and alternative schedule not agreed 8 9% 16,427 2% TOTAL ,773 Table 3 Summary of distributor ability to accept pre-enrolment request transactions from distributors according to the schedule in the Retail Settlement Code. As of April 18, retailers had submitted 763,854 enrolment requests, 93% of the requests that were scheduled to be submitted. Overall, distributors have responded to these requests ahead of schedule. More than 90% of these requests have been either accepted or rejected by distributors. While 90% of the requests have been processed, customer information for up to 10% of contracts will need to be resubmitted. Some distributors have incorrectly rejected enrol requests based on misunderstandings of the requirements, particularly related to equal payment plans, account number changes and the distributor s inability to provide retailer-consolidated billing. Distributors are addressing these issues and retailers have been allowed to resubmit these incorrectly rejected requests until May TESTING OF DISTRIBUTOR-RETAILER INTERACTIONS Testing of the interactions between distributors and retailers necessary for the market to operate has progressed in three test stages: 1. Design Ensuring the viability of the design with a subset of participants. 2. Connectivity Ensuring that individual retailers and distributors are able to connect to the EBT network and communicate with each other. 3. Inter-Participant Ensuring that individual retailers and distributors have the necessary systems, people and processes in place to operate the market. Design Testing As described in the January Market Readiness Report, on November 15, 2001, a team of nine distributors and three retailers formally completed a six-month test of the design of the retail market arrangements. These tests concluded that the market design is viable and the high-level processes required for market operation perform as intended. All core functions were tested and fully executed across the organizations. Connectivity The format, sequence and timing of interactions between individual retailers and distributors are set out in the RSC and the EBT Standards documents. All retailerdistributor interactions occur over a backbone network of EBT hubs and points that route transactions between parties in a secure and robust environment. Page 9 April 24, 2002

11 Three components of testing have been completed to establish connectivity across the market: 1. The three EBT hubs have completed testing and are exchanging transactions. 2. The three distributors that have elected a point solution have recently established connections to the EBT hubs to permit the flow of transactions and are able to exchange information with retailers. 3. Finally, the EBT hubs report that all their subscribers have completed connectivity testing using the latest version of the EBT standards. As a result, connectivity across all of the 358 distributor-retailer links necessary for market opening has been established and demonstrated through pre-enrolment processing. Inter-Participant Retail Market Design Testing identified that, given the complexity of the market and nature of the design documents, certain operating requirements of the market design must be defined on a case-by-case basis between distributors and retailers. The items identified in design testing common to all participants have been addressed through the amended standard Service Agreement. As functions are introduced across all market participants, further distributor- or retailer-specific clarifications may be required. This has been true in pre-enrolment processing where some distributors and billing system vendors made incorrect interpretations of the codes and standards. In each case, the discrepancy was identified and a clarification circulated to those involved. Pre-enrolment and earlier exchanges of historical usage information have exercised 12 of the 35 mandatory transactions necessary for market operation. In pre-enrolment all retailers and two-thirds of the distributors representing 90% of customers are already sending transactions through the EBT hubs in a production environment, at full volumes. During the period from April 29 to May 24, seven distributors and the six most active retailers have agreed to participate in a final confirmation of the remaining transactions needed for market operation. This activity is designed to identify any differences of interpretation among key participants and distributor billing systems prior to their use in a production environment. The distributors participating in the trial represent 38% of all retailer customers in the province, all three EBT hubs and seven different distributor billing systems. A further 63 distributors, representing another 21% of the retailer customers, use one of these eight billing systems. 2.4 COMMERCIAL ARRANGEMENTS There are 358 relationships between a distributor and a retailer and each requires that a Service Agreement be completed before market operation. As of April 18, 217 of 358 of the distributor-retailer pairings were covered by a signed service agreement. These agreements cover 87% of all retailer customers in the Page 10 April 24, 2002

12 province. Distributors and retailers have exchanged information, but not yet signed, an additional 100 agreements. Also, an additional 94 agreements, not required to serve customers immediately at market opening (but may be needed as retailers expand into other distributor territories) are also either signed or in the process of being signing. Table 4 Status of Service Agreements execution. To complete the commercial arrangements between retailers and distributors, retailers need to post security in the form of credit, cash or statement of a credit rating, with distributors to cover non-payment risk. As described in the Guide to Retail Security Arrangements provided by the MRP team, distributors were to provide retailers with the calculation of security by April 12. Retailers then have eight business days to respond to and post the requested amount of security. Retailers are not required to post security with a distributor that indicates it will not be able to provide retail choice on May 1. Service Agreement Status Distributor- Retailer Pairings Retailer Customers Signed % 746,784 87% In Process % 95,008 11% Not Started 39 10% 15,981 2% TOTAL ,773 Distributor- Retailer Pairings Retailer Customers Security Status Amount has been agreed to % 411,973 48% Sent, but no agreed to by retailer 53 15% 99,565 12% Not sent to the retailer ,235 40% TOTAL ,773 Table 5 Status of retailer security posting, scheduled to be completed by April 25. According to information provided by the retailers, as of April 18, agreement on the amount of security had been reached in 34% of the distributor-retailer pairings, representing 48% of retailer customers. For 52% of the pairings, retailers are waiting for calculations of security amounts to be provided by distributors. (This is particularly true for the largest distributors, who are typically least affected by retailer default.) Page 11 April 24, 2002

13 3. Providing Standard Supply Service The second key aspect of the competitive retail market relates to those customers who do not sign with a retailer. These customers are to be provided Standard Supply Service (SSS) by their existing distributor and billed the market prices set hourly in the IMO-administered market. Distributors are responsible for ensuring that SSS customers are billed based on this fluctuating rate after May 1. The new bill must also include other new or changed line items related to distribution, debt retirement and noncompetitive charges such as transmission, wholesale market service and rural and remote rate protection. This section reviews the status of distributors ability to provide SSS and summarizes the tests of SSS and unbundled billing that have occurred to date. 3.1 OVERALL STATUS The market readiness form that distributors were to submit on April 1, requested that distributors indicate whether they will be able to provide a SSS bill according to the specified requirements by May 1, Eight distributors representing less than 3% of the 4.2 million electricity customers in Ontario indicated they would not be ready to provide this service (see Table 6) by May 1. These distributors all indicated they are still targeting to have SSS billing operational by May, but have enough reservations that they are unable to commit to their readiness by May 1. Standard Supply Service Number of Distributors Total Customers Yes 86 89% 4,101,077 97% No 8 9% 91,379 3% Total Population 94 4,207,407 Table 6 Status of distributors ability to provide Standard Supply Service starting on May 1, TESTING OF STANDARD SUPPLY SERVICE Testing of the overall design of SSS was a component of the Retail Market Design Testing in Testing of individual SSS implementations is the responsibility of the distributor. Provision of SSS requires linkages between the distributor and the IMO or their host distributor. It does not require any exchange of information with retailers and, hence, does not depend upon a connection to the industry s EBT network. As a result, once distributors are confident they are able to download the necessary meter, usage and price information from the IMO, they can test their new billing functions Page 12 April 24, 2002

14 independently. The status of their individual testing of SSS is reflected in their market readiness submissions. In terms of the interface with the IMO, the 89 licensed distributors 6 that are participants in the IMO-administered market have participated in the following opportunities to test their connection with the IMO: All 89 distributors have successfully completed the IMO s required ability testing. This one-week test confirmed that distributors are able to access the IMO systems and download data. In the IMO s Production Environment Validation, distributors were given eight weeks in which to download an ongoing stream of production meter data, prior to participating in the IMO s Coupled Operational Dry Run. All 89 distributors are currently participating in Coupled Operational Dry Run, in which all market functions, except final transfer of funds are being exercised over the final month before market opening. 6 Hydro One indicates that commercial arrangements are complete with the five distributors that are embedded within Hydro One s service territory and are not participating in the IMOadministered market. Page 13 April 24, 2002

15 4. Post-May 1 Activities The industry s market readiness activities to date have largely focussed on ensuring that the systems and processes needed to operate the new competitive market are in place and ready to be put into operation after May 1. This section reviews the outstanding market readiness activities and then summarizes the new market functions already operational and the schedule of when additional functions of the market will come into operation. 4.1 REMAINING MARKET READINESS ACTIVITIES After May 1, some distributors will still have outstanding pre-may 1 activities to complete, including: Fourteen distributors, representing about 2% of the customers signed by retailers, are not able to start their pre-enrolment processing until May 1 due to technical system difficulties. These distributors, however, expect to complete their pre-enrolment activities by May 15. Eight distributors have indicated that they do not expect to be able to produce SSS bills by May 1. Service agreements, including security postings, are expected to be delayed for those distributors that are not able to support the customers of retailers, including support for retailer-consolidated billing. 4.2 OPERATIONAL SETUP ACTIVITIES Distributors and retailers need to put into operation several functions for the new market. For purposes of this report, the functions necessary for retail market operation can be combined into four groups, as illustrated in Figure Retailer Customer Enrol This group of functions addresses the retailer and customer activities necessary to change a customer from its current SSS to the retailer. As described in Section 2.2, transactions to pre-enrol customers with retailers began on March 25 and in large part finished on April 22. As distributors progress through their meter reading cycles in May, the transfer of these customers to retailer contract prices will take effect. Retailers are not permitted to submit enrolment requests to distributors (except those that were unable to accept enrolment requests during the scheduled period) until May 15. Then, on May 15 retailers can begin to submit new enrolment requests to distributors for contracts signed since February 28, Page 14 April 24, 2002

16 Market Function Retail Customer Enrol Retail Customer Drop or Move SSS Billing Retailer Billing March April Pre-enrolment ends Initial historical usage exchange ends First IMO preliminary settlement statement available All customers billed either using regulated energy rates or using both regulated rates and market prices May June July August September Retailers start to submit new enrolment requests Customers begin to be moved back to SSS or between retailers First IMO invoice issued monthly bimonthly quarterly October SSS customers begin to be billed only using market prices on their second bill Retailer customers begin to receive their first bills at their retailer s contract price Last quarterly billed SSS customers receive their first bill using only market prices Last quarterly billed retailer customers receive their first bill using their retailer s contract price. Figure 1 The new activities of the competitive retail market are being operationalized over a period of months, starting in March and progressing up to six months after the May 1 market opening date. Some activities have already started; others may not be completed until October when the second quarterly bill run is complete. Bimonthly and quarterly billing cycles are represented with lighter shading in the diagram. 2. Retailer Customer Drop or Move On May 1, the transactions between retailers and distributors necessary to manage changes to customer information will begin to flow over the EBT network. These transactions include: Change customer location Change customer billing option Move customer from a retailer back to SSS Move customer from one retailer to another 3. SSS Billing SSS billing includes the distributor activities necessary to bill those customers who have elected not to sign a contract with a retailer begin at market opening. Because the billing period of individual customers will span May 1, the first bill after market opening will include customer usage under both pre-may 1 regulated rates and post-may 1 hourly market prices. In calculating charges for this first post-may 1 bill, distributors have the option of applying both regulated and market prices or simply applying the pre-market regulated rates to all the days in the billing period. Distributors in Ontario bill customers monthly, bimonthly or quarterly. Therefore, the first time a customer will receive a bill based entirely on market prices could be anywhere between June and October. The roll-out of bills from distributors can be estimated based on the number of customers served by each distributor and information collected on each distributor s billing cycle and billing frequency. Most Page 15 April 24, 2002

17 Ontario customers will begin to see the effects of the competitive market in June. For instance, while approximately 75% of distributors are expected to have issued at least one SSS bill by June 1 only 25% of customers will have received a bill by then. And, fewer than half of these bills will include any of the new SSS line items. 4. Retailer Billing Regardless of whether a retailer customer is billed by the retailer or the distributor, the first bill using the retailer s contract price will not be issued until after June 1. As distributors progress through their billing cycles, customer usage and other information will be exchanged between distributor and retailer to enable the customer bills to be issued. Similar to the SSS bills, the majority of first bills using the retailer s contract price will not be issued until July. Page 16 April 24, 2002

18 Appendix A Individual Distributor Status The following table presents the individual status of the Ontario distributors in four key readiness indicators: Able to offer Standard Supply Service (SSS) on May 1 Yes denotes that the distributor indicated in its April market readiness submission that it would be able to provide SSS to customers who have not signed a contract with a retailer. Able to offer retailer choice on May 1 Yes denotes that the distributor indicated in its April market readiness submission that it will be able to undertake all mandatory transactions with retailers needed for retail choice in its service territory at market opening. Partial denotes that the distributor will be able undertake a specified set of transactions that are necessary for the core functions of the retail market to be operational at market opening. Pre-enrolment status Operational indicates the distributor is able to accept and process enrolment requests from retailers. Alternative indicates the distributor is not yet able to accept enrolment requests, but has agreed to an alternative schedule with retailers that results in requests being pre-enrolled by May 15 at the latest. Not Operational indicates the distributor is not yet able to accept enrolment requests and has not yet agreed to an alternative schedule with retailers. The information used for this report is current as of April 18. Regular updates to this information are available on the OEB s Retail Market Readiness website ( Page 17 April 24, 2002

19 Distributor Name Approximate Number of Consumers Served Able to Offer Standard Supply Service on May 1 Able to Offer Retail Choice on May 1 Pre-Enrolment Status Asphodel-Norwood Distribution Inc. 749 Yes Yes Operational Atikokan Hydro Inc. 1,869 Yes Yes Operational Aurora Hydro Connections Limited 13,324 Yes Partial Operational Barrie Hydro Distribution Inc. 56,728 Yes Yes Operational Bluewater Power Distribution Corp. 34,500 Yes Yes Operational Brant County Power Inc. 8,370 Yes Yes Operational Brantford Power Inc. 34,475 Yes Yes Operational Burlington Hydro Inc. 52,000 Yes Yes Operational Cambridge & North Dumfries Hydro Inc. 43,425 Yes Yes Operational Canadian Niagara Power Inc. 14,600 Yes Yes Operational Casselman Hydro Inc. 1,289 Yes Yes Operational Centre Wellington Hydro Ltd. 5,457 Yes No Operational Chapleau Public Utilities Corp. 1,400 Yes Yes Operational Chatham-Kent Hydro Inc. 37,000 Yes No Operational Clinton Power Corp. 1,635 Yes Yes Operational COLLUS Power Corp. 13,144 Yes Yes Operational Cooperative Hydro Embrun Inc. 1,295 No No Alternative Dutton Hydro Ltd. 864 Yes Yes Operational E.L.K. Energy Inc. 10,182 Yes Yes Operational Enersource Hydro Mississauga Inc. 163,500 Yes Yes Operational ENWIN Powerlines Ltd. 79,003 Yes Partial Operational Erie Thames Powerlines Corp. 13,275 Yes Yes Operational Espanola Regional Hydro Distribution Corp. 3,300 Yes Partial Not Operational Essex Power Lines Corp. 25,900 Yes Yes Operational Festival Hydro Inc. 18,000 Yes Yes Operational Fort Frances Power Corp. 3,893 Yes No Not Operational Grand Valley Energy Inc. 659 Yes Yes Operational Gravenhurst Hydro Electric Inc. 2,298 Yes Partial Operational Greater Sudbury Hydro Inc. 43,000 Yes Partial Operational Grimsby Power Inc. 7,902 Yes Partial Alternative Guelph Hydro Electric Systems Inc. 37,388 Yes Yes Operational Haldimand County Hydro 20,500 No No Operational Halton Hills Hydro Inc. 17,500 Yes Yes Operational Hamilton Hydro Inc. 174,588 Yes Yes Operational Hearst Power Distribution Company Ltd. 2,772 Yes Yes Alternative Hydro 2000 Inc. 1,101 Yes No Alternative Hydro Hawkesbury Inc. 4,842 Yes Yes Alternative Hydro One Brampton Networks Inc. 91,144 Yes Yes Operational Hydro One Networks Inc. 1,098,950 Yes Yes Operational Hydro Ottawa Ltd. 250,000 Yes Yes Operational Hydro Vaughan Distribution Inc. 63,938 Yes Partial Operational Innisfil Hydro Distribution Systems Ltd. 13,000 Yes Yes Operational Page 18 April 24, 2002

20 Distributor Name Approximate Number of Consumers Served Able to Offer Standard Supply Service on May 1 Able to Offer Retail Choice on May 1 Pre-Enrolment Status Kenora Hydro Electric Corp. Ltd. 5,560 Yes Yes Not Operational Kingston Electricity Distribution Ltd. 26,343 Yes Yes Operational Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro Inc. 71,964 Yes Yes Operational Lakefield Distribution Inc. 1,298 Yes Yes Operational Lakefront Utilities Inc. 8,500 Yes No Operational Lakeland Power Distribution Ltd. 8,712 Yes Partial Operational London Hydro 131,897 Yes Yes Operational Markham Hydro Distribution Inc. 65,245 Yes Yes Operational Middlesex Power Distribution Corp. 6,363 Yes No Operational Midland Power Utility Corp 6,024 Yes Yes Alternative Milton Hydro Distribution Inc. 12,500 Yes Yes Operational Newbury Power Inc. 185 Yes Yes Operational Newmarket Hydro Ltd. 23,500 Yes Partial Operational Niagara Falls Hydro Inc. 33,276 Yes Partial Operational Niagara-on-the-Lake Hydro Inc. 6,800 Yes No Alternative Norfolk Power Distribution Inc. 18,000 Yes No Operational North Bay Hydro 23,300 Yes Yes Operational Northern Ontario Wires Inc. 6,599 Yes Yes Alternative Oakville Hydro Electricity Distribution Inc. 49,000 Yes Partial Operational Orangeville Hydro Ltd. 9,242 Yes Yes Operational Orillia Power Distribution Corp. 12,044 Yes Yes Operational Oshawa PUC Networks Inc. 46,000 Yes Yes Operational Ottawa River Power Corp. 10,000 Yes No Alternative Parry Sound Power Corp. 3,220 Yes Yes Operational Peninsula West Utilities Ltd. 14,039 No No Operational Peterborough Distribution Inc. 33,000 Yes Yes Operational Port Colborne Hydro Inc. 9,079 Yes Yes Operational PUC Distribution Inc. 32,400 Yes Partial Operational Renfrew Hydro Inc. 4,000 No No Alternative Richmond Hill Hydro Inc. 35,778 Yes Partial Operational Rideau St. Lawrence Distribution Inc. 5,740 No No Not Operational Scugog Hydro Energy Corp. 2,807 Yes Yes Operational Sioux Lookout Hydro 2,653 Yes No Operational St. Catharines Hydro Utility Services Inc. 51,022 Yes No Not Operational St. Thomas Energy Inc. 14,192 No No Operational Tay Hydro Electric Distribution Company Inc. 3,900 Yes Yes Alternative Terrace Bay Superior Wires Inc. 938 Yes Not Answered Operational Thunder Bay Hydro 50,000 Yes Not Answered Operational Tilsonburg Hydro Inc. 11,057 Yes Yes Alternative Toronto Hydro-Electric System Ltd. 650,000 Yes Partial Operational Veridian Connections 90,000 Yes Yes Operational Wasaga Distribution Inc. 9,200 Yes Yes Alternative Waterloo North Hydro Inc. 42,865 No No Not Operational Welland Hydro-Electric System Corp. 20,821 Yes Partial Operational Page 19 April 24, 2002

21 Distributor Name Approximate Number of Consumers Served Able to Offer Standard Supply Service on May 1 Able to Offer Retail Choice on May 1 Pre-Enrolment Status Wellington Electric Distribution Company Inc. 1,045 Yes Yes Operational Wellington North Power Inc. 3,300 Yes Yes Operational West Coast Huron Energy Inc. 3,699 No No Not Operational West Nipissing Energy Services Ltd. 3,087 Yes Partial Alternative West Perth Power Inc. 1,898 Yes Yes Not Operational Westario Power Inc. 17,757 Yes Partial Operational Whitby Hydro Energy Services Corp. 25,137 Yes Yes Operational Woodstock Hydro Services Inc. 13,662 Yes Yes Operational Page 20 April 24, 2002

22 Appendix B Map of Distributor Status Page 21 April 24, 2002

23 NORTHERN ONTARIO EASTERN ONTARIO Lake Huron Georgian Bay COLLUS Midland Parry Sound Tay Wasaga Barrie Innisfil Lakeland Gravenhurst Orillia Ottawa River Kenora Sioux Lookout Renfrew Ottawa Hydro 2000 Embrun Hawkesbury Casselman Fort Frances Atikokan Lakefield Asphodel-Norwood Peterborough Kingston kilometres Thunder Bay Terrace Bay Sudbury Sault Ste. Marie Espanola Hearst Northern Ontario Chapleau North Bay West Nipissing Rideau St. Lawrence 0 25 kilometres Wellington North Grand Valley Cambridge Orangeville Brampton Halton Hills Milton Guelph Newmarket Enersource Hamilton Richmond Hill Vaughan Oakville Burlington Aurora Markham Whitby Toronto Niagara-onthe-Lake St Catharines Niagara Falls Oshawa Hydro One Veridian Bluewater Newbury Middlesex Westario Huron Clinton West Perth St Thomas Festival London Centre Wellington Walterloo North Kitchener-Wilmot Woodstock Dutton Tilsonburg Brant County Erie Thames Wellington Brantford Norfolk Haldimand Grimsby Peninsula West Welland Port Colborne CNP Scugog Lakefront Lake Ontario Number of Customers 1,000,000 May 1 Readiness Expectation Expect to offer both SSS and retail choice Expect to offer SSS, but not retail choice Not expecting to offer either SSS or retail choice 250, ,000 Chatham-Kent ENWIN E.L.K. Lake Erie kilometres 50,000 5,000 or less Essex Page 22 April 24, 2002