Energy Choice
                            

Matters

Archive

Daily Email

Events

 

 

 

About/Contact

Search

Draft Suggests Retail Suppliers Prohibited From Offering Complex Products to Large Customers With Incidental Residential Meters

April 29, 2015

Email This Story
Copyright 2010-15 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Karen Abbott • kabbott@energychoicematters.com

A Connecticut PURA draft order appears to prohibit retail suppliers from serving residential meters associated with non-residential customers (incidental residential accounts) with any product except a fixed rate, or standard variable-monthly rate, as defined in a prior PURA order concerning residential service.

Specifically, the draft, which addresses billing requirements, would require that utilities provide new summary information previously required for residential bills (rate, rate expiration date, rate change notice, etc.) for "incidental residential accounts," or accounts classified as residential that are associated with a non-residential customers, receiving a utility consolidated bill. As a result, PURA would require retail suppliers to provide EDCs with the information necessary to include this summary information with incidental residential account consolidated bills.

The draft would deny retail suppliers' arguments that since incidental residential accounts do not reflect true residential customers, suppliers should not be required to provide the summary information to the EDC.

"The Authority does not support requiring the EDCs to further accommodate suppliers by making changes to the customer identification standards used for billing electric consumption at residential properties. The Authority understands RESA's concerns but cannot modify the statutory requirements to provide the Summary Information on residential customer bills. Therefore, the EDCs are required to provide the Summary Information on the first page of all residential customer bills and suppliers are required to provide the information necessary for the EDCs to do so," PURA said.

RESA has also raised concern that if these incidental residential accounts are classified as residential for purposes of including summary information on bills, a prior PURA decision prohibiting the offering of certain variable rates (specifically, anything but a variable-monthly rate which is a single rate each month, set in advance of the billing period) to residential customers would prohibit the offering of complex rates (block and index pricing, portfolio managed pricing, etc.) to business customers who happen to have incidental residential accounts.

The draft did not squarely address this question, but suggests that RESA's interpretation is correct and that block and index pricing, portfolio managed pricing, and similar complex products would be prohibited for incidental residential accounts, as the draft suggests that suppliers should simply serve these customers on fixed or variable-monthly plans. The draft also states, however, that, "The Authority concludes that nothing in this Decision limits the ability of suppliers to offer a wide range of products to business customers," and that, "There may be other workarounds that do not place additional administrative burdens on the EDCs."

"RESA argues that the Authority's previous rulings concerning applicability of rate plans for residential customers, combined with a requirement to provide the Summary Information for Incidental Residential Accounts, will eliminate suppliers' ability to offer any rate plan other than Fixed or Variable-Monthly rates to these business customers. PURA finds that the evidence suggests there are generally very few Incidental Residential Accounts commingled among the business accounts served under a single contract. In these cases, it is reasonable to conclude that the residential consumption associated with one or two Incidental Residential Accounts is a very small percentage of the customer's overall consumption. Rather than disrupt the established EDC standards to accommodate these few accounts, suppliers should consider alternatives and work within the statutory confines. For example, suppliers could identify the Incidental Residential Account(s) and provide a Fixed or Variable-Monthly rate for those accounts. There may be other workarounds that do not place additional administrative burdens on the EDCs. The Authority concludes that nothing in this Decision limits the ability of suppliers to offer a wide range of products to business customers," the draft says

The draft order would also require retail suppliers to include with their dual, or direct bills, to residential customers the statutorily required summary information which was recently ordered to be included on utility consolidated and utility default service bills (as noted above, such information includes the rate, date of rate expiration, and any change in the rate for the next billing period, as well as EDC-sourced information).

Under the draft, PURA concludes that Conn. Gen. Stat. §16-245d(a)(2) requires placement of the Summary Information on the first page of residential electric bills and does not limit this requirement to bills rendered by the EDCs. The Authority would conclude that licensed suppliers are required to provide the Summary Information on the first page of electric bills for residential accounts that are Direct Billed by the supplier, noting that the information required under Conn. Gen. Stat. §16-245d(a)(2) is similar to the information suppliers must now provide through quarterly notifications, Form 1, as directed in the Decision dated November 5, 2014, in Docket No. 13-07-18, PURA Establishment of Rules for Electric Suppliers and Electric Distribution Companies Concerning Operations and Marketing in the Electric Retail Market, p. 15.

"Suppliers can fulfill the requirements of Conn. Gen. Stat. §16-245d(a)(2) by providing the Summary Information as a separate first page with the bills for Direct Billed residential customers," the draft states.

"To allow suppliers the time necessary to implement this change the Authority will require that the Summary Information for Direct Bill residential customers be displayed no later than January 1, 2016," the draft provides.

Docket 14-07-19RE01

ADVERTISEMENT
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
NEW! -- Pricing Analyst -- Retail Supplier
NEW! -- Senior Energy Supply Analyst -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
NEW! -- Vice President, Commercial Sales -- Retail Provider -- Houston
NEW! -- Regional Sales Manager-Mass Markets -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
NEW! -- Special Billing Analyst -- Retail Provider -- Houston
NEW! -- Market Relations Analyst -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
NEW! -- Billing Analyst -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
NEW! -- Account Manager -- Houston
NEW! -- Director of Operations -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
Operations Analyst -- Retail Supplier
Analyst, Residential Pricing and Analysis -- Retail Supplier -- Houston
Regional Sales Manager --Retail Provider -- Dallas, TX

Email This Story

HOME

Copyright 2010-15 Energy Choice Matters.  If you wish to share this story, please email or post the website link; unauthorized copying, retransmission, or republication prohibited.

 

Archive

Daily Email

Events

 

 

 

About/Contact

Search