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Senate Passes Bill Limiting Variable Rate Changes, Requires Rate Changes to Be Listed on Bills
The Connecticut Senate has passed a bill (SB 2) which would limit variable rate changes during the initial months of service, and would require electric bills to include any rate changes effective for the next billing cycle.
SB 2 would provide that a residential contract, "shall provide for the same electric generation service rate that may not be exceeded for at least the first three billing cycles of the contract, provided the licensee may decrease such rate at any time."
The legislation would further direct PURA to develop, by July 1, 2015, a standard bill format for residential customers providing placement of the following items on the first page of each residential customer's bill from an electric distribution company:
(i) The electric generation service rate;
(ii) The term and expiration date of such rate;
(iii) Any change to such rate effective for the next billing cycle;
(iv) The cancellation fee, if applicable, provided there is such a change;
(v) Notification that such rate is variable, if applicable;
(vi) The Standard Service rate;
(vii) The term and expiration date of the Standard Service rate;
(viii) The dollar amount that would have been billed for the electric generation services component had the customer been receiving Standard Service; and
(ix) The web site address of the PURA rate board, and the toll-free telephone number and other information necessary to enable the customer to obtain Standard Service.
Similar rate information would be required to be mailed, by both the utility and electric supplier, to customers on a quarterly basis until such standardized bill format is implemented.
Retail suppliers would also be required to provide to PURA for public posting (and to list on their own website), on a monthly basis, the highest and lowest electric generation service rate charged by the supplier as part of a variable rate offer in each of the preceding twelve months to any customer eligible for Standard Service.
The bill would direct PURA to develop standard form contract disclosures, as well as renewal disclosures and notice procedures. Notably, for customers rolling off a contract onto a variable rate, the notice sent by the supplier would have to include the highest and lowest variable rate charged in the last 12 months.
In a subsection regarding renewals, but whose language is not explicitly limited to renewals, the bill also provides, "No electric supplier shall charge an electric generation service rate to a residential customer that is twenty-five per cent more than (A) the original contract price, or (B) the last rate notification provided by the electric supplier, without disclosing the rate change described in subparagraphs (A) or (B) of this subdivision fifteen days before it takes effect."
Residential early termination fees would be limited to $50 under the bill (currently fees are capped at $100 or twice an average monthly bill).
The bill would require that an electric distribution company transfer a residential customer to the Standard Service rate not later than 72 hours after receipt of a request from a residential customer eligible for Standard Service. An electric distribution company shall transfer a residential customer to the electric generation service rate of an electric supplier not later than 45 days after the electric distribution company receives from the electric supplier a successful enrollment of such residential customer.
PURA's decision establishing a standardized bill would also be directed to include the feasibility of an electric distribution company transferring a residential customer receiving electric generation service from an electric supplier to a different electric supplier in a "timely" manner and ensuring that the electric distribution company and the relevant electric suppliers provide timely information to each other to facilitate such transfer, and allowing residential customers to choose how to receive information related to bill notices, including United States mail, electronic mail, text message, an application on a cellular telephone, or a third-party notification service approved by the authority.
PURA would also be directed to study the feasibility of placing all financial hardship customers on Standard Service.
The bill remains subject to approval by the House.
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April 30, 2014
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Copyright 2010-14 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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