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Maryland Accelerates Switching Timeline to 5 Days, Urges Consideration of Service Quality Standards for Retail Suppliers
The Maryland PSC has accelerated the switching timeline for customers with advanced meters, while also encouraging stakeholders to consider service quality standards for retail suppliers
The PSC's directive came in a case examining impacts from winter pricing on customers.
The PSC noted that, "One factor identified at the hearing that we find particularly egregious is the allegation that customers could not complete a timely switch due to difficulties associated with contacting their supplier. According to OER, they have seen 'a number of customers contacting [OER] saying they've tried everything they can to reach the supplier and they are unable to do so, so they can't get out of the variable rate contract.'"
"We note here that the Utilities are required to achieve and report on objective customer communications standards as outlined in COMAR 20.50.12.08, including: answering at least 75% of all calls offered to the utility for customer service or outage reporting purposes on an annual basis, and achieving an annual average abandoned call percentage rate of 5% or less. We find it unacceptable that customers could not effectuate a transfer of service due to the inaccessibility of a supplier, and encourage the parties to consider whether it is appropriate to establish comparable customer communication standards in COMAR for competitive retail suppliers," the PSC said.
The PSC noted that under current regulations, if a request to switch away from a supplier is received by the utility less than 12 days before the customer's next scheduled meter reading date, the switch can only take effect on the customer's subsequent scheduled meter reading date.
Furthermore, in a typical case in which the terms and conditions of a variable rate contract requires a customer to provide 30 days' notice before switching, the regulation can constrain the customer from actually switching for up to 72 days, the PSC noted.
"The COMAR regulations governing customer switching were implemented before the deployment of AMI and smart meters. With the capabilities of these new meters to read final billing energy usage remotely, we see an opportunity to compress the time period for those wishing to switch suppliers or revert back to SOS," the PSC said.
"[T]herefore, we immediately and temporarily waive the required 12-day window for customers with smart meters, in order to permit customers and their local utility to utilize smart meters for this very basic purpose that they can readily serve. The Utilities are directed to effectuate the transfer of service to SOS or Sales Service, or to another supplier, within 3 to 5 business days of receiving notice from the customer. If this timeline is impracticable, the Utilities are directed to propose an alternative to the Commission within 10 days," the PSC directed.
The PSC adopted this accelerated timeline on a temporary basis through July 31, 2014. The PSC directed Staff to adopt this accelerated timeline, and other appropriate revisions, as permanent regulations affecting the ability of customers to transfer service from one competitive supplier to another or to return to SOS or Sales Service in a timely manner.
The PSC also directed Staff and other parties to explore (in the context of the Purchase of Receivables Work Group) ways to extend the option of budget billing to all gas and electricity choice customers.
The PSC said that another issue identified with respect to the supplier commodity charge is the application of energy assistance grants by the Utilities. "OER testified at the hearing that customers of at least some utilities have complained that energy assistance grants are not currently applied to the supplier commodity portion of a customer's energy bill. As a result, customers who may have difficulty paying these high bills and are otherwise eligible for energy assistance might still be denied service due to arrearages stemming from the supplier commodity. OPC noted that the Utilities are purchasing the suppliers' receivables and therefore eventually charging this off as 'bad debt' for which all ratepayers are responsible. While we are aware of a prior Commission Order that directed utilities to place energy assistance customers on budget billing, we do not interpret this earlier directive to prohibit the application of energy assistance grants to the bottom-line of a customer's monthly bill -- inclusive of the supplier commodity charge—so long as the customer is on budget billing for at least the distribution portion of their monthly utility bill," the PSC said.
The PSC directed that the utilities shall apply energy assistance grants for eligible customers to the entirety of a customer's energy bill.
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April 10, 2014
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Copyright 2010-13 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Karen Abbott • kabbott@energychoicematters.com
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