Orders

ORDER NUMBER

G-238-24

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

and

Easy Energy Inc.

Request for Confidentiality

BEFORE:

E. B. Lockhart, Commissioner

B. A. Magnan, Commissioner

on September 5, 2024

ORDER

WHEREAS:

A.      On July 3, 2024, Easy Energy Inc. (Easy Energy) filed an application (Application) pursuant to Part IV of the British Columbia Utility Commission’s (BCUC) Rules of Practice and Procedure, requesting that certain information (i.e. annual sales revenue and number of customers) contained in its August 28, 2023 application for renewal of its Gas Marketers Licence (2023 Renewal Application) be kept confidential;

B.      On August 28, 2023, Easy Energy filed its 2023 Renewal Application, seeking renewal of its Gas Marketer Licence for the November 1, 2023 to October 31, 2024 period. Pursuant to Attachment 1 of the Rules for Gas Marketers, Easy Energy requested that its 2023 Renewal Application be held confidential;

C.      By Order A-9-23 dated October 30, 2023, the BCUC renewed Easy Energy’s Gas Marketer Licence and ruled that the 2023 Renewal Application would be held confidential until otherwise determined;

D.      In the time since Order A-9-23 was issued, the BCUC updated its “entity map” webpage on its website, to provide customers of regulated entities with easily accessible information that gives them a general understanding of their energy provider;

E.       The BCUC has reviewed the Application and considers that establishing a regulatory timetable is warranted.

NOW THEREFORE the BCUC orders as follows:

1.       A hearing process for the review of the Application is established, in accordance with the regulatory timetable as set out in Appendix A to this order.

2.       Easy Energy is directed to file the supplemental information as set out in Appendix B to this order by Friday, September 20, 2024.

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this        5^th      day of September 2024.

BY ORDER

Original signed by:

B. A. Magnan

Commissioner

Easy Energy Inc.

Request for Confidentiality

Easy Energy Inc.

Request for Confidentiality

The BCUC’s assessment of the July 3, 2024 application (Application) filed by Easy Energy Inc. (Easy Energy) to keep certain information (i.e. annual sales revenue and number of customers) contained in Easy Energy’s August 28, 2023 application for renewal of its Gas Marketers Licence (2023 Renewal Application) confidential, requires Easy Energy to file further information, detailed below.

Rule 20 of the BCUC’s Rules of Practice and Procedure[1] states that in determining whether the nature of information or documents requires a confidentiality direction, the BCUC will have regard to matters that it considers relevant, including, in part, the following: 

(a) whether the disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to result in:

(i) undue material financial loss or gain to a person;

(ii) significant harm or prejudice to that person’s competitive or negotiating position; or

(iii) harm to individual or public safety or to the environment;

(b) whether the information is personal, financial, commercial, scientific, labour relations or technical information that is confidential and consistently treated as confidential by the person; [and]

(c) whether the person’s interest in confidentiality outweighs the public interest in the disclosure of the information or documents in the hearing; […]

On the BCUC’s publicly available “Entity Map” webpage,[2] customers of publicly regulated utilities have access to high-level information such as annual sales revenue, total utility assets, energy delivered, number of customers, and major customer types.

Please explain how each of the factors from Rule 20 listed above applies to the information regarding annual sales revenue and number of customers from Easy Energy’s 2023 Renewal Application. In particular, please explain why Easy Energy’s interest in keeping annual sales revenue and number of customers information confidential outweighs the public interest in customers of Easy Energy, a regulated entity, having access to high-level information regarding their energy provider similar to that information available to customers of regulated public utilities, such as FortisBC Energy Inc.