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Regulator Asks If Fixed Price Customers Should Be Returned To Default Service At End of Term In Wake of Variable Rate Ban, Seeks Comment on Alternative Rate Treatment

July 7, 2015

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

The Connecticut PURA has sought comment on its mandate under the state's recently adopted statutory ban on variable electric rates to develop an appropriate rate structure for residential customers whose fixed price contracts expire and who do not make an affirmative selection in response to such expiration.

Specifically, the Act directs the Authority to, "initiate a proceeding to develop recommendations and guidance regarding (1) what type of generation services rate structure is best suited for residential customers who allow a fixed contract with an electric supplier to expire and begin paying a month-to-month rate for generation services from such supplier; and (2) what change to the generation services rate and to the terms and conditions of such service that customers may experience after the expiration of a fixed contract when such customers begin paying a month-to-month rate."

PURA asked stakeholders to:

• Comment on the best generation rate services structure that would accomplish the goals of the Act.

• Comment on the practicalities of implementing and managing such a month-to-month rate.

• Comment on how such a month-to-month rate structure would relate to and work alongside electric suppliers’ existing auto-renew contracts as referenced in Connecticut General Statutes (Conn. Gen. Stat.) §16-245o(h)(8).

• Comment on how electric supplier generation rate contracts would change to accommodate a month-to-month rate structure after the expiration of a fixed rate contract.

• Comment on how the prohibition on variable rates after October 1, 2015 would affect incidental residential customers (i.e., the Dean’s Residence on a University Campus on a single commercial bill), given that the Act adds new language, codified in Conn. Gen. Stat. §16-245o(n), that defines residential customers as those who contract, "with an electric supplier for generation services at residential premises for domestic purposes only."

• Comment on how a customer should be treated after the expiration of a fixed contract with a particular electric supplier. To comport with the Act, should contracts be written such that the customer is automatically returned to standard service? Should the contracts renew automatically under the same terms as the original fixed contract, but on a month-to-month basis? What if the customer takes no action?

• Comment on how existing residential variable rate contracts should be sunset, if at all, in light of the October 1, 2015 ban on new residential variable rate contracts and auto-renewed residential variable rate contracts.

• Comment on changes that must be made by the Connecticut electric distribution companies (EDCs) in light of changes mandated by the Act.

• Comment on how and when suppliers and EDCs should notify their customers about changes mandated by the Act.

Docket 15-06-15

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