Sec. 16-244h. Code of conduct for electric distribution companies, generation entities or affiliates and electric suppliers. Contents of code. Penalties, damages.

(a) Not later than January 1, 1999, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall, by regulations adopted pursuant to chapter 54, establish a code of conduct which shall apply to electric distribution companies, as defined in section 16-1, their generation entities or affiliates and electric suppliers. The code of conduct shall become effective upon the completion of unbundling but not later than July 1, 1999.

(b) The code of conduct shall include: (1) Measures to ensure information, revenues, expenses, costs, assets, liabilities or other resources derived from or associated with providing electric transmission or distribution services by an electric distribution company are not used to subsidize any generation entity or affiliate; (2) safeguards to assure fair dealing between electric distribution companies and all other electric suppliers, as defined in section 16-1, including any generation entities or affiliates of the electric distribution company; (3) procedures for ensuring electric suppliers nondiscriminatory access to the transmission and distribution facilities of the electric distribution company; and (4) measures to ensure that an electric distribution company provides transmission and distribution service, applies tariffs to generation entities or affiliates and to unaffiliated electric suppliers in a nondiscriminatory manner and enforces such tariff provisions. The code of conduct shall, at a minimum, (A) prohibit any employee of a generation entity or affiliate from conducting distribution system operations or having access to system control centers or similar facilities used by distribution operations in any way that differs from the access available to employees of unaffiliated electric suppliers, (B) prohibit an employee of a generation entity or affiliate from having preferential access to any information concerning the electric distribution company's customers or distribution system that is not available on an equivalent basis to unaffiliated electric suppliers, (C) prohibit an employee of an electric distribution company from disclosing to an employee of a generation entity or affiliate information concerning its customers, the distribution system or other market information through nonpublic communications that is not available on an equivalent basis to all unaffiliated electric suppliers, (D) require employees of electric distribution companies to apply all tariff provisions relating to the sale or purchase of any retail access distribution service in a fair, impartial and nondiscriminatory manner, and (E) prohibit joint marketing activities between an electric distribution company and its generation entity or affiliate. The code of conduct shall not prohibit communications necessary for standard offer service pursuant to section 16-244c or when necessary to restore service or to prevent or respond to emergency conditions. Each electric distribution company shall annually submit to the authority such information as the authority may require in order to evaluate the actual effectiveness of the code of conduct in fulfilling the purposes of this section. The authority shall consult with the independent system operator on a regular basis regarding issues raised under this section. The authority may, upon its own motion or upon receipt of a complaint from any person alleging a violation of the code of conduct, investigate an electric distribution company's compliance with the code of conduct, and any such investigation shall be considered a contested case as defined in section 4-166. The authority may enter into appropriate orders to enforce the code, including cease and desist orders, and it may levy civil penalties against these entities subject to the code after notice and hearing pursuant to section 16-41. Any person aggrieved by a violation of the code of conduct shall also have a private right of action for damages against the electric distribution company or generation entity or affiliate, as the case may be.

(P.A. 98-28, S. 15, 117; P.A. 11-80, S. 1; P.A. 14-134, S. 83.)

History: P.A. 98-28 effective July 1, 1998 (Revisor's note: In codifying this section an incorrect reference in Subsec. (b) to “section 19 of this act” was deemed by the Revisors to be a reference to “section 20” and therefore codified as section “16-244c”); pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Department of Public Utility Control” and “department” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “Public Utilities Regulatory Authority” and “authority”, respectively, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 14-134 amended Subsec. (b)(2) by replacing “electric company” with “electric distribution company”, effective June 6, 2014.