III. Market Participants Obligations
c. Distribution Utilities (DUs)
1.
Obligation to provide non-discriminatory access to its regulated services
A DU shall provide non-discriminatory access to its distribution system to all
users. It shall not give preferential treatment to any of its end-users, whether
belonging to the captive or contestable market, in relation to the distribution
of electricity, connection to its facilities, maintenance, operation & installation
of meters, and all other regulated services.
A DU shall operate and maintain the distribution system (the wires and poles,
etc.) in their respective franchise areas. A DU is responsible for managing
the quality of electricity supply, power outages, meter repair and maintenance,
and other matters related to its facilities and services.
A DU has an obligation to connect end-users to its distribution system, provided
the end-user applying for connection has satisfied all requirements of the DU.
2. Obligation to ensure operational separation between a DU’s
regulated and non-regulated business segments, in accordance with the Business
Separation Guidelines, As Amended.
A DU that also engages in competitive retail supply for the contestable market
(Local RES) shall ensure operational, financial and accounting separation of
its competitive/non-regulated business from its regulated business segments.
Operational separation is required to promote a level playing field and to ensure
that there is no cross subsidy between the DU’s regulated and non-regulated
businesses.
3. Obligation to ensure separation of accounts
among the DU’s regulated business segments, as well as among its non-regulated
activities, in accordance with the Business Separation Guidelines, As Amended.
A DU shall have separate books of account among its regulated business segments,
e.g. accounts for Distribution Wheeling Service shall
be separate from that of Connection Service.
If a DU will establish a non-regulated business segment and plans to provide
services as Local RES and Wholesale Aggregator, the two business activities
shall have separate books of account.
4. Obligation to ensure DU’s non-preferential
treatment to its Local RES and/or Affiliate RES
A DU that provides certain services to its Local RES or Affiliate RES shall
ensure that same services are available to other competitive RES at non-discriminatory
terms and conditions.
5. Obligation to provide SOLR service in the early
stages of retail competition
A DU shall serve as SOLR to Contestable customers in case of a Last Resort Supply
Event. Obligations of a SOLR is provided by Article V of the Rules
for the Supplier of Last Resort.
6. Obligation to fulfill the corresponding responsibilities
as prescribed in the Code of Conduct and RES Licensing Guidelines, if DU will
operate as a RES or Local RES
Article II of the Code
of Conduct for Competitive Retail Market Participants, and Article VII of
the Guidelines
for the Issuance of Licenses to RES outline the specific obligations and
responsibilities of a RES or Local RES.
7. Obligation to set-up and operate the business-to-business
(B2B) interface system approved by ERC
A DU, whether as a distributor or a Local RES, shall set-up and operate a B2B
interface system to ensure efficient customer switching and information transfer
among competitive retail market players.
8. Obligation to comply with the regular reporting
requirements prescribed in the Code of Conduct, Rules for the SOLR and Guidelines
for the Licensing of RES
Article IV of the Code of Conduct for Competitive Retail Market Participants,
Article X of the Rules for SOLR, and Article VI of the Guidelines for the Licensing
of RES prescribe the regular reporting requirement to be submitted by the DU
to ERC.
9. Obligation to abide by the provisions of the
Competition
Rules, prohibiting, among others, misuse of market power
10. Obligation to know and understand, among others, all ERC rules governing
retail competition and open access