N.Y. Eases Limits on Utility Role in BPL Transactions, Says Industry Source

The N.Y. PSC Wed. adopted BPL rules, Commission and industry sources said. “They voted on it today, but it doesn’t mean it will be released today,” the Commission source said. The order will be posted on the PSC website within a week, the source said. This would make N.Y. the 2nd PSC after Cal. to adopt BPL rules, with Tex. enacting a bill to ease utility embrace of the technology.

N.Y. decided to take a more flexible approach from what it had proposed, according to information he received, said Brett Kilbourne, regulatory dir. of the United Power Line Council. The Commission proposed in its rulemaking to bar utilities from any role in BPL transactions. “Now it appears they are going to drop these restrictions to the extent the utility companies are using BPL for utility applications,” he said. If utilities want to offer commercial broadband services, they could do so through an affiliate, he said.

Kilbourne said it is unclear how many specifics N.Y. has addressed compared with Cal. and Tex. The industry’s biggest concern was the proposal to keep utilities out of the BPL business to avoid regulation, he said: “That to us seemed like a little too extreme.” The rest of the PSC rulemaking had to with safety issues and BPL’s business case and business model, he said, calling them “largely rhetorical.” Another bump for industry was the proposed bidding methodology, he said, but it was unclear if that was adopted.

Utilities should have a say in BPL transactions mostly for reasons of safety, Kilbourne said: “Utility companies want some measure of control over how the system gets deployed. You want to be able to use it [BPL] for different applications [and if] you don’t know where the stuff is going to be deployed you can’t really rely on that from an internal applications standpoint.” Utilities also want control over how BPL attachments are made, he said: “They would prefer their own linesmen to do those attachments.” Kilbourne said with N.Y. devising BPL rules, he could “guarantee” news soon of at least a couple of deployments.

Meanwhile, in-building BPL, which of late has gained considerable traction, got more with EarthLink announcing it’s teaming with Telkonet to test broadband and VoIP services in 9 Washington, D.C., area apartment complexes using the latter’s BPL backbone. Customers will get a voice, broadband and home networking package marketed by EarthLink, the companies said. EarthLink, part of an access BPL trail with Progress Energy in Raleigh, N.C., wants more “options to get to the customer beyond just the incumbents,” a spokesman said.

In-building BPL is making more rapid inroads compared to access BPL, with companies like Motorola entering the fray. The company, which debuted its Powerline MU solution (CD Sept 18 p3), cited Comcast, Charter and Cox among cable firms early to show interest in the technology. One reason for interest on the in-building side is its relative ease of deployment compared with cable and even wireless in MDUs, Kilbourne said: “You get more value for your bucks.” It’s also cheaper and less intrusive, he said, and, compared with access BPL, in-building BPL has no major regulatory issues. In-building gear isn’t subject to FCC certification, he said: “The hardest thing we face on the in-building side is just getting the message out.”