Energy Choice
                            

Matters

State Proposes Suppliers Pay $100 to Slammed Customers, in Addition to Refunds; Proposes New Standard for Suppliers

January 16, 2015

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

The Connecticut PURA has issued new draft standards for electric suppliers and a draft disclosure statement, stemming from Section 4 of Public Act 14-75.

Among the proposed standards is that any supplier found to have switched a customer's electric generation service without that customer's consent (or failing to provide proof of said switch) is subject to:

• Applicable statutory penalties;

• Refund to the customer the difference in the generation service charge price from their previous supplier;

• Additional credit of not less than $100.00 to the customer; and,

• If applicable, payment of the customer's early termination fee that was triggered when that customer's electric generation service was switched without the customer's authorization.

The draft standards also conditions the assignment of a supplier's customers to another supplier on several provisions.

"Licensed Electric Suppliers are providing a service, and each one is unique in terms of its price, products, services, corporate structure and reputation. One Licensed Electric Supplier cannot be substituted for another without the customer's consent. Therefore, a customer's contract or agreement cannot be assigned to another Licensed Electric Supplier without the customer's consent," the draft states.

It is not clear if such consent for an assignment may be obtained at the time of enrollment, by the customer agreeing to the supplier's right to assign the contract in the future.

Story Continues Below...

ADVERTISEMENT
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
• NEW! -- Senior Analyst, Front Power Supply -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Accounts Management Director -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Regional Sales Manager-Mass Markets -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
• NEW! -- Digital Marketing Manager -- Retail Supplier
• 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
• Business Development Director
• Scheduling/Business Analyst -- Retail Provider
• Staff Accountant -- Retail Provider -- Houston
• Regional Sales Manager -- Retail Provider -- PA/IL/New England/Texas
• Sr. Pricing Analyst -- Retail Provider -- Houston
• Senior Energy Markets Pricing Analyst
• Utility Rules Analyst -- Retail Supplier

Prior to assigning any customers to another supplier, a supplier must file a “"Notice of Assignment" with the Authority no later than 60 days before the expected effective date of the assignment, the draft provides.

Most notably, the supplier must include in the Notice of Assignment, "all the rate(s) that the customers will be charged by the new supplier after the assignment and the effective dates of such rate(s)."

This would require the supplier to provide a rate at least 60 days prior to its effective date (and longer considering the switching time to effect the transfer of customers).

Additionally, the draft provides that a supplier, "may not assign any contracts that expire prior to the date of the intended assignment."

Although the draft does not expand on this, PURA has recently interpreted fixed contracts that rollover to a monthly agreement to have "expired", and prevented them from being included in an assignment.

The draft standards also provide that, "[a]ll advertisements must clearly display the name of the supplier making said offers and all advertisements offering service must have an expiration date of the offer and/or terms, if applicable."

"All guarantees must include a clear and conspicuous disclosure of how the savings will be calculated and what the supplier will do if the savings are not realized, together with any time or other limitations that the supplier may impose. For example: 'Guaranteed to be lower than Standard Service' must be accompanied by a disclosure that explains how the savings were calculated. When an offer is made in an advertisement and there is a material contingency, condition or limitation on the offer, the supplier shall conspicuously state such contingency, condition or limitation reasonably adjacent to the offer, in the same font size," the draft provides.

The draft standards require, "the use of background checks for those engaging in door-to-door sales."

The draft also provides that a licensed electric supplier, "shall provide the Authority with the names of those conducting telemarketing on their behalf."

Later, the draft more specifically states, "upon request from the Authority, a Licensed Electric Supplier must provide the names of all callers conducting telemarketing on behalf of the Licensed Electric Supplier."

"Those engaging in door-to-door sales must use, but not be limited to, a written script. A copy of the written script is to be provided to the customer. It shall include a section the customer shall sign, which attests that the script was followed by those engaging in door-to-door sales. If the person at the door is an individual other than a direct employee of the Licensed Electric Supplier the script shall include the name of the Licensed Electric Supplier being marketed, the broker/agent's name/company name and contact info. The script also shall state that those engaging in door-to-door sales did not represent themselves as an employee or member of the customer's electric distribution company," the draft provides

"All suppliers conducting telemarketing must clearly identify their company name or trade name abbreviation in the Caller ID information area. They must also identify within that Caller ID a telephone number that a customer can use to contact the supplier making the call. Suppliers are prohibited from displaying on its Caller ID any false or misleading phrases such as 'Customer Service' or 'Electric Choice,'" the draft provides.

"Each telemarketing call must begin with the person conducting the call stating his/her name, their company name/broker name and the Licensed Electric Supplier for whom they are soliciting. The caller must declare that they are not associated with and do not represent the customer's electric distribution company," the draft provides.

"If at any time during a third party verification the customer cannot answer a question, the verification process must end and the call must be returned to the original caller. At any time a customer does not understand a question, the verification process must end and the call must be returned to the original caller. Verification calls must include an opportunity for non-English speaking customers to have a verifier in their own language. The offer and request for a non-English speaking verifier must be part of the recorded verification," the draft provides.

All provisions outlined above would apply to residential customers and non-residential customers under 100 kW.

For residential customers only, the following disclosure would be required for any communication that offers a variable product or offers a fixed price product that becomes a variable product shall contain the following disclosure statement:

"Licensed Electric Suppliers are required to post the highest and lowest generation service charge rate that was billed to their customers under a variable rate offer in each of the preceding 12 months. You can find this information on [ABC Electric's] website at www.abcelectric.com/past_variable_rates or on the supplier Rate Board that is maintained by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority at www.energizect.com/compare-energy-suppliers."

Per the draft, this Disclosure Statement shall appear on all promotional materials and all communications between the supplier and the customer, including but not limited to:

• The supplier's website

• All notifications required by statutes

• All renewal notices or correspondence relating to a customer's service

• Direct mail

• Newspaper ads

• Magazine ads

• Email ads and information

• Any material used in door-to-door solicitation

The font and color of the Disclosure Statement and rates information must be consistent and in close proximity to each other to adequately serve the purpose of keeping the customers fully informed, the draft states.

Docket 14-07-20

ADVERTISEMENT
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
• NEW! -- Senior Analyst, Front Power Supply -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Accounts Management Director -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Regional Sales Manager-Mass Markets -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
• NEW! -- Digital Marketing Manager -- Retail Supplier
• 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
• Business Development Director
• Scheduling/Business Analyst -- Retail Provider
• Staff Accountant -- Retail Provider -- Houston
• Regional Sales Manager -- Retail Provider -- PA/IL/New England/Texas
• Sr. Pricing Analyst -- Retail Provider -- Houston
• Senior Energy Markets Pricing Analyst
• Utility Rules Analyst -- Retail Supplier