CCR Compliance Plan
In this decision, the AUC approved the application from ATCO Electric Ltd., ATCO Gas (a division of ATCO Gas & Pipelines Ltd.), and ATCO Energy Ltd. (collectively “ATCO”) to amend their Code of Conduct Regulation Compliance Plans (“CCR compliance plans”).
On November 12, 2020, the Code of Conduct Regulation was amended, necessitating changes to ATCO’s CCR compliance plans. On November 12, 2020, the AUC repealed Rule 030: Compliance with the Code of Conduct Regulation which affected the requirements for CCR compliance plans in the following ways:
(a) s. 8 (Meetings between distributors or regulated rate suppliers and retailers and customers), s. 25 (Records and accounts), s. 26 (Written financial transactions), s. 27 (Records of transactions for goods and services), and s. 28 (Maintaining records) was repealed;
(b) s. 33 (Quarterly and annual compliance reports) was amended, removing the requirements to submit quarterly compliance reports to the AUC;
(c) s. 40 (Audits) was amended, reducing the frequency of compliance audits from at least once every 36 months to at least once every 10 years;
(d) s. 41 (Audit report) was amended to exempt small Rural Electrification Associations (fewer than 1,400 members) from the audit requirement; and
(e) the requirement for utilities to report instances of non-compliance within 30 days of discovery was removed.
In order to address the removal of record retention requirements from the Code of Conduct Regulation, the AUC issued a letter on July 12, 2021, requiring that utilities retain certain records relevant to audits for a minimum of three years.
Amendments
In addition to amendments related to the sections noted above, ATCO proposed to add provisions to Section 9.0 (Confidentiality of Customer Information) of the CCR compliance plans. The changes to Section 9 were intended to clarify the reporting of privacy breaches that are under the purview of either the Information and Privacy Commissioner or the AUC. ATCO stated that the proposed changes would reduce administrative burden.
The Code of Conduct Regulation is concerned with customer information insofar as preventing any single utility from having unequal access to information disclosed by distribution companies.
The AUC agreed with ATCO’s proposed revisions to distinguish the reporting and disclosure requirements to the AUC under the Code of Conduct Regulation from the reporting requirements governed by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection Act.
The AUC was satisfied that the amendments proposed to ATCO’s CCR compliance plans are consistent with continued compliance with and sufficiently address the Code of Conduct Regulation requirements. Further, the amendments align with the requirements communicated by the AUC following the repeal of Rule 030.
The AUC approved the amended CCR compliance plans as submitted by ATCO, including the proposed additions to Section 9.0 of ATCO’s CCR compliance plans.
