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Updated: NY PSC Proposes That All ESCO Mass Market Sales Be Subject To TPV (Internet, Mailer, Etc.)

Would Require ESCOs To Direct Customers To Compare Rate To Utility's Rate On Bill

ESCOs Would Be Required To Ask All Customers If They Are On Low-Income Program

ESCOs Would Be Required To Offer Budget Billing

ESCOs Would Be Prohibited From Acting As Customer Agent For Enrollment, Switch Purposes

March 9, 2017

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Copyright 2010-17 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

Note: An earlier version of this story was first published at 6:30 p.m. on March 8

The New York PSC has issued a proposed set of revisions to the Uniform Business Practices that would require all mass market sales to be subject to, "independent third party verification."

Specifically, the proposed UBP revisions would provide that, "for any sale, including, but not limited to those resulting from: 1) door-to-door solicitation; 2) telephonic marketing; 3) scheduled appointment; 4) direct mailer; or 5) electronic enrollments, each enrollment is only valid with an independent third party verification."

Note that the term "independent third party verification" is currently used in the UBPs, but the current UBPs then direct that such independent third party verification shall be in accordance with Section 5, Attachment 1, which outlines a process that permits, "use of either an Independent Third Party or an Integrated Voice Response system to obtain customer authorization." The revised UBPs do not disturb this construct, and, as noted below, revisions to other sections maintain the reference to the use of an Integrated Voice Response as meeting the standard required for independent voice verification.

Specifically, the draft changes to Section 5, Attachment 1 of the UBPs provide:

"A voice-recorded verification is required to enter into a telephonic agreement, a door to door agreement, a direct mailer agreement, electronic enrollment, or agreement that resulted from an appointment with a customer to initiate service and begin enrollment. Use of either an Independent Third Party or an Integrated Voice Response system to obtain customer authorization is required for all mass market enrollments in addition to the requirements in UBP Section 5.B.1. Verification by an Independent Third Party or an Integrated Voice Response system shall be recorded and conducted without the ESCO marketing representative’s presence, either on the telephone or in person and, for door-to-door marketing and appointments, should be conducted no less than 30 minutes after the marketer has left the premises. The verification call should be terminated if the customer asks any questions with respect to the agreement during the process."

Under the current UBPs, only telephonic and door-to-door enrollments are required to be voice verified.

The proposed UBP changes would require ESCOs to retain documentation of a customer’s authorization to change providers, as well as independent third party verification records, for as long as the customer remains with the ESCO, and for two years thereafter

The proposed changes to the UBPs would require ESCOs during the marketing process to advise customers to check the utility’s price on the customer’s bill as a comparison to the price that the ESCO is offering, including in electronic enrollments.

Accordingly, voice verifications would require that the ESCO ask the customer: "Did the marketer advise you to check your utility bill for the utility’s rate as a comparison to the price that you were offered?"

Furthermore, ESCOs would be required to ask during the voice verification, "Do you participate in your utility’s low-income assistance program?"

The proposed revisions would require that, "Every ESCO shall offer residential customers a voluntary budget billing or levelized payment plan for the payment of charges."

Under this proposal, "The ESCO is responsible for determining the budget bill amount and must evaluate each budget billed account on a quarterly basis for conformity with actual billings. Each such plan shall provide that bills clearly identify consumption and state the amounts that would be due without levelized or budget billing. A distribution utility shall adjust its bills rendered under a budget billing plan on the effective date for changing a provider and include the adjustments in the customer’s next bill."

The proposed changes would continue to allow ESCOs to act as a customer's agent in initiating distribution service from the utility, but would prohibit ESCOs from acting as an agent of the customer in other matters, including those related to switching

"A customer may authorize an ESCO to act as the customer’s agent (ESCO agent) in establishing a new delivery account for distribution utility service. The ESCO agent shall retain, and produce upon request, documentation that the customer authorized the ESCO to act as the customer’s agent for this purpose only," the proposed changes state

"The customer’s Agent is not authorized to cancel a pending enrollment, an enrollment with a different ESCO or utility, or place and/or lift utility account blocks where a customer has authorized a change in provider," the proposed changes state

In a section concerning the assignment of customers by ESCOs, the proposed revisions would strike from the current UBPs language that states such assignments are permitted provided that, "the assigned sales agreements clearly authorize such assignments."

The proposed UBP changes also add language to memorialize recently adopted laws or regulations.

For example, as a result of last year's A.8630A /S.6485-A (see story here), the UBPs would be updated to reflect that, in the event the customer is deceased before the end of such contract term, no fee for termination or early cancellation shall be assessed.

The proposed revisions would also add to the UBPs ESCOs' required compliance with clean energy and nuclear procurement standards recently adopted by the PSC

Acting on a petition from Green Mountain Energy, the proposed revisions would require that rather than reflecting an agent's full name, the ID required for a door-to-door sales agent would require that the ID list the agent's first name and employee identification number, due to privacy concerns (see background here)

Link to proposed UBP changes

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