|
|
|
|
|
Texas Staff: REPs Have Duty to Inform Customers of Distribution Charges (Footnote on Pass-Through Does Not Meet 'Explicit' Disclosure Required By Rule)
Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas have opposed a retail provider's motion for summary judgment of a complaint concerning additional charges due to the customer's classification under the delivery service tariff.
The complaint, from Nawaid Isa, results from the customer being reclassified under the CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric tariff from "Commercial Under 10 KVA" to "Commercial over 10 KVA" due to installation of an in-line pole to power a cricket field.
Isa is disputing Ambit's pass-through of charges related to the reclassification.
Ambit has argued that, "it acted solely as the 'middle-man' in this case by passing through the TDU charges billed to Ambit to the customer as provided in Ambit's notifications to the customer."
Ambit said that, "The facts are undisputed that Ambit informed Mr. Isa that Ambit would bill any TDSP charges to him as a separate line item on his bill ... Ambit's small commercial TOS informed the customer that '[t]he price on the EFL does not include non-recurring fees charged by the TDU...' In addition to the disclosure provided to the customer in Ambit Energy's TOS, Ambit Energy provided an additional disclosure in its EFL that the customer's rate could change during the contract period, 'due to changes in the TDSP charges.'"
"Further, the customer specifically acknowledged in the Commercial Service Authorization, that he understood that the pricing for the products for which he was enrolling, 'does not include recurring Transmission and Distribution Provider (TDSP) charges' and that 'Ambit Energy does not control TDSP charges, which I understand will be passed through to me as individual line items on my bill at the rate approved by my TDSP,'" Ambit said.
However, in opposing Ambit's request for summary decision, Staff said that, "Ambit had a duty to inform Mr. Isa of the charges likely to apply in view of his planned usage."
"A key purpose of the Commission's Substantive Rules related to customer protection for retail electric service is to provide customers with sufficient information to make informed decisions about electric service in a competitive market. The REP shall inform the customer of the product or service being offered, including all associated charges, and explicitly inform the customer that the associated charges for the product or service will appear on the customer's electric bill before including any charges on the customer's electric bill," Staff said
"Ambit's position is that it was merely the middleman and that it could not have had knowledge of CenterPoint's reclassification of Mr. Isa's account from "Commercial Under 10 KVA" to "Commercial over 10 KVA." Whether Ambit had a relationship in place with CenterPoint to learn such information is irrelevant. P.U.C. SUBST. R. 25.471(b)(3) and P.U.C. SUBST. R. 25.481(b)(1) make it Ambit's duty to learn and then communicate such information to the end use customer prior to charging the customer for such charges. This includes all charges that result from distribution, demand charges, or applicable tariff rates. While it may be true that Ambit only learned of the account's re-classification after the in-line pole was installed by CenterPoint and after Mr. Isa's usage exceeded 10 KVA, the fact remains that the only information that Ambit provided to Mr. Isa prior to the disputed charges was that its pricing would be 5.78 cents per kWh," Staff said.
Subst. R. 25.481(b1)(1) requires that, "The REP shall inform the customer of the product or service being offered, including all associated charges, and explicitly inform the customer that the associated charges for the product or service will appear on the customer’s electric bill."
Ambit was notified of the classification change via EDI on October 24, 2013
"Ambit argues that it met all of its communication requirements because its Terms of Service contained a footnote that states that Ambit may also bill for certain fees which include fees assessed by the transmission and distribution service provider. In another footnote, Ambit stated that pricing only applies to the price per kilowatt hour and does not include recurring transmission and distribution provider charges that will be passed through as separate line items. Staff does not believe that the rates from Mr. Isa's previous "Commercial Under 10 KVA" charge and footnotes referring to other possible fees/charges meet the requirements of P.U.C. SUBST. R. 25.481(b)(1) to explicitly inform customers of charges," Staff said.
Furthermore, under the Substantive Rules, Staff said that in any dispute between a customer and a REP concerning the terms of a contract, any vagueness, obscurity, or ambiguity in the contract will be construed in favor of the customer.
"As mentioned above, Staff does not believe that Mr. Isa received reasonable notice of the charges that he would be responsible for. Footnotes referring to other possible charges that result in total bills three times greater than previously quoted are obscure at best. Therefore, Staff recommends that this obscurity in the contract be construed in favor of Mr. Isa," Staff said.
"There is an explicit duty to communicate with and inform end use customers of their rights and responsibilities. That duty lies with the REP, which in this case, is Ambit. For the reasons stated above, Staff recommends that Ambit's motion for summary decision be denied," Staff said.
While Staff opposed summary decision, Staff was not specifically addressing, at this time, a decision on the complaint's merits.
Docket 42111
ADVERTISEMENT Search for more retail energy careers: Copyright 2010-
June 2, 2014
Email This Story
Copyright 2010-14 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
• NEW! -- Electricity Analyst -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Analyst I, Electricity Services
• NEW! -- Natural Gas Pipeline Scheduler
• NEW! -- B2B Regional Sales Rep -- Retail Supplier -- NY/NJ/PA
• NEW! -- Account Representative / Account Executive -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Business Development/Sales -- Retail Supplier -- New York
• NEW! -- Senior Pricing & Structure Analyst -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Business Development Manager -- Texas -- DFW
• NEW! -- Account Manager
• NEW! -- Energy Consultant / Analyst
• NEW! -- Vice President of Supply -- Retail Provider -- Houston
• NEW! -- VP/Director of Operations -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
RetailEnergyJobs.com
|
|
|
|