Energy Choice
                            

Matters

State Proposes Changes to Municipal Aggregation Rules: New Disclosure Requirements, Permanent Opt-Out

December 24, 2014

Email This Story
Copyright 2010-14 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

Staff of the New Jersey BPU have issued potential changes to Government Energy Aggregation (GEA) Program Rules under consideration as the Staff reviews the current rules in Docket Number EX14111343

Most notably, one change under consideration would require aggregation suppliers to provide customers with a "GEA Program Summary" which would be identical to the suppliers contract summary recently adopted by the BPU (click here for details), except that it would also include the language that, "As a residential gas/electric customer who has not chosen a Third Party Supplier for your gas/electric supply, you will be AUTOMATICALLY ENROLLED in this Government Energy Aggregation Program unless you indicate your desire NOT TO participate by doing the following."

For Option 2 aggregations (where notice is provided to customers after selection of a supplier), the opt-out notice would have to include: 1) a typical residential customer annual bill comparison between the selected supplier and the utility's approved BGS/BGSS rates, and 2) a statement that utility rates could increase or decrease during the course of the program, which would affect the level of customer savings.

Also under consideration is a rule providing customers with a permanent opt-out. The proposal would require each aggregation municipality to maintain a list of the names, addresses, and LDC account numbers of residential customers who have advised the lead agency, the municipality, the LDC, or the selected supplier that they prefer to be excluded from all future government energy aggregation programs.

Other changes under consideration address situations where customers may erroneously be included in an aggregation because their mailing address lists the township in which the aggregation is in effect, although the customer's residence is actually outside of the township's borders. The change under consideration would require the governing body of each participating municipality to review the LDC's list of customers and remove those customers whose properties are not physically located within the municipality's borders before the list can be used for the distribution of opt-out letters.

Click here for a full list of changes under consideration by Staff

A stakeholder meeting was set for Jan. 29.

ADVERTISEMENT
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
• NEW! -- Director, Business Development Power & Gas -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Business Development Manager -- Retail Supplier -- Houston/DFW
• NEW! -- Energy Advisor
• NEW! -- Manager-Retail Key Account Sales -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Energy Advisor -- DFW
• NEW! -- Business Development Director
• NEW! -- Scheduling/Business Analyst -- Retail Provider
• NEW! -- Staff Accountant -- Retail Provider -- Houston
• NEW! -- Regional Sales Manager -- Retail Provider -- PA/IL/New England/Texas
• Sr. Pricing Analyst -- Retail Provider -- Houston
• Senior Energy Markets Pricing Analyst
• Energy Markets Analyst
• Utility Rules Analyst -- Retail Supplier