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Pennsylvania Utility Seeks Waiver of Minimum Billing Period Regulation In Order to Implement Accelerated Switching

October 6, 2014

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Copyright 2010-14 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Karen Abbott • kabbott@energychoicematters.com

PECO has petitioned the Pennsylvania PUC for a temporary waiver of regulations requiring a minimum number of days in a customer's billing period in order to implement accelerated electric supplier switching, as PECO proposes to implement accelerated switching by issuing a new bill whenever a supplier change occurs ("Bill on Supplier Switch," or "BOSS.")

If a customer switches between meter read dates, the BOSS approach could result in bills covering only a few days of service within the overall monthly billing period. The Commission's regulations, however, require that bills be issued for a period of not less than 26 days.

PECO proposes to generate a short-period BOSS bill for electric service when a default service customer enrolls with an EGS during the billing cycle; when an EGS customer switches to another EGS during the billing cycle; or when an EGS customer returns to EDC default service during the billing cycle

In order to return the customer to their normal billing cycle, the natural consequence of PECO issuing a BOSS bill on the customer's EGS enrollment or switch or a return to default service is that PECO must also generate a short on-cycle bill for the remainder of the billing cycle

"The BOSS bill will include electric service charges; prorated non-usage-based electric service charges including the customer charge; and demand charges. The BOSS bill will not include gas service charges; budget billing (assessment or settlement); deposits; or payment-agreement installment amounts. The BOSS bill will display prior payments not shown on a prior bill; excess credits not shown on a prior bill; new miscellaneous debits/credits not shown on a prior bill; late payment charges ('LPCs') not shown on a prior bill; and the previous outstanding balance from prior bills. The usage period for the BOSS bill will be from the prior billed reading date to the date of enrollment, switch or drop from an EGS, and the calculation of the due date for the BOSS bills will follow the same rules as regular bill due date calculations. Electronic Funds Transfer ('EFT') will draft only the current charges associated with the BOSS bill, and the EFT will schedule its draft using the same number of days as on-cycle billing. Finally, the BOSS bill will include a message explaining the BOSS bill to differentiate it from the normal, on-cycle bill," PECO said

For customers who are on budget billing, the short-period BOSS bill will be informational, and will not request a payment. The entire budget payment will be requested at the regular time, when the on-cycle bill is issued, PECO said.

PECO requested that the waiver be effective for a period of four years. Near the end of that four-year period, PECO will confer with other stakeholders to determine whether an additional waiver of the Commission's regulations is still required and, if so, make an additional filing with the Commission seeking a further waiver of its regulations

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