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ESCO Protests "Exorbitant" Increase in Consolidated Billing Charge Sought By NY Utilities, Seeks Phase-In

May 23, 2016

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Copyright 2010-16 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

Direct Energy has sought to phase-in "exorbitant" increases in the consolidated billing charge at KeySpan New York and KeySpan Long Island (National Grid), in testimony on the KeySpan LDCs' current rate case

Direct Energy noted that the consolidated billing charge at KEDNY is proposed to increase from $0.76 to $1.42 per bill, an increase of 87%, and at KEDLI is proposed to increase from $0.65 to $1.76, an increase of 171%.

"These increases are exorbitant and even if the cost is justified, these increases should be phased in, not implemented in one large amount," Direct Energy said.

"The increases of 87% and 171% are simply too great to implement in one step," Direct Energy said.

"Direct Energy therefore suggests phasing these increases in over a three-year period. This phase in will allow Direct Energy to incorporate this increase into customers’ rates going forward without having to make a change to any existing customers’ rates or billing mechanism," Direct Energy said.

Direct Energy also sought the development of performance metrics applicable to KeySpan's billing and communication with ESCOs, noting a series of ongoing utility billing and other problems.

"There are far too many mistakes made. Recently, Direct Energy was notified that KED’s billings for 2,093 of our customers were incorrect and we were asked to pay an additional $2,790,424. KED provided backup and after reviewing the backup, Direct Energy found a number of inconsistencies in this material. Several different spreadsheet versions were provided by KED – each containing different information. As yet, we haven’t been able to reconcile KED’s information to the information we have in our system. We are at the point of conducting daily conference calls with KED’s staff to attempt to rectify the situation. This is not the first time a billing error has occurred and each time it occurs it costs us countless hours to manually update our systems and correct the issues," Direct Energy said

"There is also the situation of mixed messages on how data should be transferred as well as delays in receiving required data. Sometimes Direct Energy is asked to submit information by fax only to find that it should have been transmitted electronically. Additionally, all of our questions are supposed to be submitted via the supplier portal. When we submit questions we often get responses that don’t answer the question or that don’t provide any updates as to when information will be corrected. Using the portal delays the communications as each time a question is asked it could take 24 hours to get a response. If the response is not adequate, another 24 hours could go by before another response is received," Direct Energy said

"Lastly, there are inconsistencies in the way in which customer credits are processed. Recently, we were told by KED staff that there is no standard way for an ESCO to transmit a credit back to a customer. Direct Energy was instructed that this process would need to be reviewed on a one-off basis for each particular customer’s account. Clearly this is time consuming and lacks consistency. In the Commission’s Order Resetting Retail Energy Markets and Establishing Further Process issued on February 23, 2016, credits might have to be provided to customers who are on the guaranteed savings product at the end of a 12-month period. It is important that KED recognize that providing customers with credits are a necessary part of doing business and therefore a standardized process should be developed," Direct Energy said

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