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Draft Order Would Ban Residential Products With Prices Which Vary By Day or Week

January 6, 2015

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Copyright 2010-15 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

A draft Connecticut PURA decision would prohibit residential electric products whose rates change on a daily or weekly basis.

Under the draft, the Authority would determine that the plain language of Conn. Gen. Stat. §16-245d eliminates the possibility of rates changing on a daily or weekly basis during a residential customer's billing cycle. That's because the statue requires any change to a customer's electric generation service rate for the next billing cycle must be disclosed on the current month's bill.

Suppliers would be permitted to offer Variable-Daily and Variable-Weekly plans until the Electronic Business Transaction (EBT) workgroup reviews related changes required by the draft and the EDCs implement the new requirements.

As an aside, we note suppliers are by statute also required to offer a Time of Use option to residential customers, and while a TOU option can have the various rates for each period set in advance, other real-time pricing programs would necessarily implicate rates which vary within a billing cycle.

The draft would also find that it is feasible to reduce the enrollment period for switches from two days to one day and will address the issue through the reconvened EBT working group. Switches would still be performed at on-cycle meter reads.

The draft would also direct the EDCs to study whether customers should have the ability to receive bill notices via text messaging, an app on a cell phone, mobile-enabled website and/or third party notification service. In contrast, PURA has previously required that suppliers offer certain information via several channels including text message and an application on a cellular telephone or a third-party notification service approved by the Authority.

PURA's draft also memorializes changes to the information on the EDC's bill required by recent legislation, including: : (1) the electric generation service rate; (2) the term and expiration date of such rate; (3) any change to such rate effective the next billing cycle; (4) the cancellation fee, if applicable, provided there is such a change; (5) notification that such rate is variable, if applicable; (6) the standard service rate; (7) the term and expiration date of the standard service rate; (8) the dollar amount that would have been billed for the electric generation services component had the customer been receiving standard service; and (9) an electronic link or Internet website address to the PURA rate board, and the toll-free telephone number and other information necessary to enable a customer to obtain standard service.

The draft would direct the EBT working group to address how EDCs would receive this information from suppliers for shopping customers.

Docket 14-07-19

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