2209 - Market power remediation.
§ 2209. Market power remediation. (a) Interim standards of conduct.--Within 120 days of the effective date of this chapter, the commission shall provide by order binding, interim guidelines for standards of conduct governing the activities of and relationships between natural gas distribution companies and their affiliated natural gas suppliers and other natural gas suppliers and monitor and enforce compliance with those standards. (b) Permanent standards of conduct.--The commission shall thereupon promulgate regulations setting forth permanent standards of conduct governing the activities of and relationships between natural gas distribution companies and their affiliated natural gas suppliers and other natural gas suppliers and monitor and enforce compliance with these standards. The commission shall neither favor nor disfavor conduct or operations by and between a natural gas distribution company and an affiliated natural gas supplier or a nonaffiliated natural gas supplier. (c) Contents of standards.--Standards of conduct shall provide for: (1) No discrimination against or preferential treatment of any natural gas supplier, including an affiliated natural gas supplier. (2) No disclosure or preferential sharing of any confidential information to or with any individual natural gas supplier. (3) Adequate rules prohibiting cross-subsidization of an affiliated natural gas supplier by a natural gas distribution company. (4) Maintenance of separate books and records by the natural gas distribution company and its affiliated natural gas supplier. (5) Sufficient physical and operational separation, but not including legal divestiture, to accomplish paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (4). (6) An informal dispute resolution procedure. (7) A system of penalties for noncompliance with the final set of standards of conduct consistent with existing commission regulations. (d) Limitation.--The standards shall not prohibit the natural gas distribution company and its affiliated natural gas supplier from using or sharing similar corporate names, trademarks, trade dress or service marks. (e) Initiation of investigations.--Upon complaint or upon its own motion, for good cause shown, the commission shall conduct an investigation of the impact on the proper functioning of a fully competitive retail natural gas market of mergers, consolidations, acquisition or disposition of assets or securities of natural gas suppliers and anticompetitive or discriminatory conduct affecting the retail distribution of natural gas. (f) Conduct of investigations.-- (1) The commission may require a natural gas supplier to provide information, including documents and testimony, in accordance with the commission's regulations regarding the discovery of information. (2) Material which the commission determines to be confidential, proprietary or trade secret information provided under this subsection shall not be disclosed to any person not directly employed or retained by the commission to conduct the investigation without the consent of the party providing the information. (3) Notwithstanding the prohibition on disclosure of information in paragraph (2), the commission shall disclose information obtained under this subsection to the Office of Consumer Advocate and the Office of Small Business Advocate under an appropriate confidentiality agreement. The commission may disclose the information to appropriate Federal or State law enforcement officials if it determines that the disclosure of the information is necessary to prevent or restrain a violation of Federal or State law and it provides the party that provided the information with reasonable notice and opportunity to prevent or limit disclosure. (g) Referrals and investigation.--If, as a result of the investigation conducted under this section, the commission has reason to believe that anticompetitive or discriminatory conduct, including the unlawful exercise of market power, is preventing the retail gas customers from obtaining the benefits of a properly functioning and effectively competitive retail natural gas market, the commission, pursuant to its regulations, shall: (1) Refer its findings to the Attorney General, the United States Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. (2) Subject to subsection (c)(3), disclose any information it has obtained in the course of its investigation to the agency or agencies to which it had made a referral under paragraph (1). (3) Intervene, as provided and permitted by law or regulation, in any proceedings initiated as a result of a referral made under paragraph (1). (h) Marketing standards.--As part of each natural gas distribution company's restructuring proceeding, the commission may, in its discretion, develop and apply different standards of conduct to the natural gas distribution company's marketing activities related to natural gas supply services. No such standards shall apply to the natural gas distribution company's marketing division or operations until the commission issues an order in the context of that natural gas distribution company's restructuring proceeding. (i) Definition.--Subject to the conditions set forth in subsection (h), for the purposes of this section, the term "affiliated natural gas supplier" includes marketing activities related to natural gas supply services by the marketing division or the marketing operation of a natural gas distribution company.