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State Proposes New Standards Of Conduct For Door-to-Door Marketing, Requires Notice To Be Filed For All Campaigns Prior to Start

November 18, 2015

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

The Massachusetts DPU has issued a revised proposal governing door-to-door electricity sales, which now includes proposed standards of conduct (14-140).

Specifically, the latest door-to-door proposal from the DPU provides that all electric suppliers or third party door-to-door agents conducting door-to-door marketing campaigns adopt the following standards of conduct:

1. All door to door marketers shall produce and display identification clearly stating the Supplier’s legitimate trade name and logo, and the marketer’s name, photo, and identification number.

2. Door-to-door marketers shall provide a phone number on request that the customer can call to verify the door-to-door marketer’s identity.

3. Door-to-door marketers shall identify the supplier which he/she represents upon commencement of the sales call.

4. Door-to-door marketers may not represent, in any way, that he/she is affiliated with the local distribution company serving the customer.

The proposal maintains the requirement that a supplier shall file a Notice of Door-to-Door Marketing with the DPU in a form prescribed by the DPU, listing specific municipalities in which the marketing will occur, prior to starting door-to-door marketing in a specific municipality.

Specifically, the Notice of Door-to-Door Marketing shall list the names of each city and town in which the Supplier expects to conduct door-to-door marketing, "the following day." In prior comments, suppliers had raised logistical concerns with such notices, and door-to-door marketing may proceed faster than anticipated (and into new towns) based on response rates. Ostensibly in response to these concerns, the DPU's latest proposal provides that the Notice of Door-to-Door Marketing, "may also provide backup cities and towns in which it may conduct door-to-door marketing."

A supplier or its third party door-to-door agent may not expand its door-to-door marketing campaign outside of the city or towns, or back-up cities or towns, provided in its Notice of Door-to-Door Marketing until a new Notice is filed with the Department.

Additionally, the latest proposal only requires that such Notice of Door-to-Door Marketing be filed no later than 5 p.m. the day before the start of the door-to-door marketing campaign. Under a proposal released in December 2014, suppliers would have been required to file the Notice of Door-to-Door Marketing seven days prior to the start of the campaign.

The Notice of Door-to-Door Marketing would require suppliers to attest that the supplier (or the entity with whom the supplier has entered into a contractual agreement to conduct its door-to-door marketing activities):

a. has obtained all required municipal permits and licenses; and

b. will comply with all municipal notice requirements.

Furthermore, the Notice of Door-to-Door Marketing would require suppliers to attest that it (or its third-party door-to-door agent) has conducted a, "nation-wide background check for each person who will participate in the door-to-door marketing campaign."

In addition to general comments on the Department’s revised proposal, the Department sought specific comments on the information that should be covered in the background checks (e.g., criminal records history, Department of Justice sex offender records, social security number/address history locator).

The DPU's proposal would also require that suppliers shall maintain a database of all complaints received during the door-to-door marketing campaign, regardless of the type of complaint, whether the door-to-door marketer is an employee of a third party door-to-door agent or the supplier, or whether the complaint was resolved. The supplier shall retain the customer complaint data for at least one year from the date of the complaint filing, and shall include all pertinent information, including but not limited to (1) the customer or potential customer’s name and contact information, (2) the door-to-door marketer(s) involved, (3) the nature of the complaint, and (4) how the complaint was resolved. Finally, the supplier shall provide the customer complaint data to the Department upon request.

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