RSIF Next Steps



August 21, 1997


FELLOW ELECTRIC INDUSTRY RESTRUCTURING PARTIES:

The July 25 Retail Settlements and Information Flows (RSIF) workshop report
contained recommendations for additional work in specific areas, in
priority order.  The report also contained an invitation to all parties to
participate in the ongoing process.  

The report set an extremely ambitious August 15 filing target date for
supplemental RSIF reports on the highest-priority issues.  The following
issues were identified as being in this category:  

electronic data exchange processes and protocols;
distribution loss factor calculation and communication;  and
auditing and performance monitoring (renamed "retail data quality and
integrity" during the work process).

I am happy to report that the last of these three supplemental reports
(distribution losses) was filed yesterday.  The reports are available for
your inspection and comment (by August 29) on the CPUC web site.  The
parties involved in the production of these reports worked extremely hard
to accomplish the work in the short timeframe allotted, and I think you'll
be impressed with the quality and scope of the workproducts.

However, lest you stop to take a breath, it is now time to turn our
attention to the next set of RSIF supplemental reports, for which the RSIF
workshop report specifies a September 30 filing date.  These issues were
next in priority for this work:

availability of data from UDC meter registries
who is entitled to access the data, and under what conditions?
what method will be used to communicate the data, and in what timeframe?
(note:  we may be able to build on the work already done for customer usage
information to help answer these questions)

dispute resolution
what disputes are most likely to arise?
which entity should have jurisdiction to adjudicate those disputes?
what should the dispute resolution process be?

universal identifiers (as described in the Pacific Enterprises RSIF
workshop proposal)
for which identification information is uniformity most important?
what is the level of effort and cost to construct/implement a uniform
identification 
	         system for each high-priority area?
how do the costs compare with the benefits?   who will pay the costs?

In addition, the work on data quality and integrity will move to the next
stage, where the "weak links" in the data processes will be identified and
procedures to identify problems will be recommended.  (This will likely
overlap with the dispute resolution work, and the two will need to be
closely coordinated.)

With the September 30 filing goal, work on these RSIF supplements will need
to begin no later than next week.  Once again, we invite you to take part
in working on the above topics.  These four efforts should include a
diversity of participants, and we want to make sure that your concerns are
reflected in the final work products.  This may be some of the last
organized work that can be set in motion before 1/1/98, so don't miss this
opportunity to make your views known. 

If you are interested in participating in some or all of these RSIF
supplemental efforts, please contact one of the following:

Barbara Baldwin, SDG&E       (619) 654-8220         BBaldwin@SDGE.com
Curtis Kebler, SCE                  (818) 302-9514         keblercl@SCE.com
Susan Schneider, PG&E          (415) 972-5956         srs4@PGE.com

We look forward to working with all of you to resolve as many issues as
possible in a collaborative effort.

                                                     -Susan Schneider



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