A. No Preferential Treatment Regarding Services Provided by the Utility: Unless otherwise authorized by the Commission or the FERC, or permitted by these Rules, a utility shall not:
1. represent that, as a result of the affiliation with the utility, its affiliates or customers of its affiliates will receive any different treatment by the utility than the treatment the utility provides to other, unaffiliated companies or their customers; or
2. provide its affiliates, or customers of its affiliates, any preference (including but not limited to terms and conditions, pricing, or timing) over non-affiliated suppliers or their customers in the provision of services provided by the utility.
B. Affiliate Transactions: Transactions between a utility and its affiliates shall be limited to tariffed products and services, the sale or purchase of goods, property, products or services made generally available by the utility or affiliate to all market participants through an open, competitive bidding process, or as provided for in Sections V D and V E (joint purchases and corporate support) and Section VII (new products and services) below, provided the transactions provided for in Section VII comply with all of the other adopted Rules.
1. Provision of Supply, Capacity, Services or Information: Except as provided for in Sections V D, V E, and VII, provided the transactions provided for in Section VII comply with all of the other adopted Rules, a utility shall provide access to utility information, services, and unused capacity or supply on the same terms for all similarly situated market participants. If a utility provides supply, capacity, services, or information to its affiliate(s), it shall contemporaneously make the offering available to all similarly situated market participants, which include all competitors serving the same market as the utility's affiliates.
2. Offering of Discounts: Except when made generally available by the utility through an open, competitive bidding process, if a utility offers a discount or waives all or any part of any other charge or fee to its affiliates, or offers a discount or waiver for a transaction in which its affiliates are involved, the utility shall contemporaneously make such discount or waiver available to all similarly situated market participants. The utilities should not use the "similarly situated" qualification to create such a unique discount arrangement with their affiliates such that no competitor could be considered similarly situated. All competitors serving the same market as the utility's affiliates should be offered the same discount as the discount received by the affiliates. A utility shall document the cost differential underlying the discount to its affiliates in the affiliate discount report described in Rule III F 7 below.
3. Tariff Discretion: If a tariff provision allows for discretion in its application, a utility shall apply that tariff provision in the same manner to its affiliates and other market participants and their respective customers.
4. No Tariff Discretion: If a utility has no discretion in the application of a tariff provision, the utility shall strictly enforce that tariff provision.
5. Processing Requests for Services Provided by the Utility: A utility shall process requests for similar services provided by the utility in the same manner and within the same time for its affiliates and for all other market participants and their respective customers.
C. Tying of Services Provided by a Utility Prohibited: A utility shall not condition or otherwise tie the provision of any services provided by the utility, nor the availability of discounts of rates or other charges or fees, rebates, or waivers of terms and conditions of any services provided by the utility, to the taking of any goods or services from its affiliates.
D. No Assignment of Customers: A utility shall not assign customers to which it currently provides services to any of its affiliates, whether by default, direct assignment, option or by any other means, unless that means is equally available to all competitors.
E. Business Development and Customer Relations: Except as otherwise provided by these Rules, a utility shall not:
1. provide leads to its affiliates;
2. solicit business on behalf of its affiliates;
3. acquire information on behalf of or to provide to its affiliates;
4. share market analysis reports or any other types of proprietary or non-publicly available reports, including but not limited to market, forecast, planning or strategic reports, with its affiliates;
5. request authorization from its customers to pass on customer information exclusively to its affiliates;
6. give the appearance that the utility speaks on behalf of its affiliates or that the customer will receive preferential treatment as a consequence of conducting business with the affiliates; or
7. give any appearance that the affiliate speaks on behalf of the utility.
F. Affiliate Discount Reports: If a utility provides its affiliates a discount, rebate, or other waiver of any charge or fee associated with services provided by the utility, the utility shall, within 24 hours of the time at which the service provided by the utility is so provided, post a notice on its electronic bulletin board providing the following information:
1. the name of the affiliate involved in the transaction;
2. the rate charged;
3. the maximum rate;
4. the time period for which the discount or waiver applies;
5. the quantities involved in the transaction;
6. the delivery points involved in the transaction;
7. any conditions or requirements applicable to the discount or waiver, and a documentation of the cost differential underlying the discount as required in Rule III B 2 above; and
8. procedures by which a nonaffiliated entity may request a comparable offer.
A utility that provides an affiliate a discounted rate, rebate, or other waiver of a charge or fee associated with services provided by the utility shall maintain, for each billing period, the following information:
9. the name of the entity being provided services provided by the utility in the transaction;
10. the affiliate's role in the transaction (i.e., shipper, marketer, supplier, seller);
11. the duration of the discount or waiver;
12. the maximum rate;
13. the rate or fee actually charged during the billing period; and
14. the quantity of products or services scheduled at the discounted rate during the billing period for each delivery point.
All records maintained pursuant to this provision shall also conform to FERC rules where applicable.
