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New York Consumer Advocates Oppose More ESCO Waiver Requests To Serve Low-Income Customers

May 23, 2017

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

Various New York consumer advocates have opposed the waivers sought by nine ESCOs to continue serving low-income customers.

As previously reported, the PSC previously banned ESCOs from serving assistance program participant (APP) customers, absent a waiver for guaranteed savings products. The PSC has tolled implementation of such order until at least May 26, pending court action on an appeal.

Pursuant to a notice and comment period, the consumer advocates were responding to the waiver petitions separately filed by Starion Energy NY, Inc., Just Energy New York Corporation, Stream Energy New York, LLC, M&R Energy Resources Corp., New Wave Energy Corp., Agway Energy Services, LLC, Drift Marketplace, Inc., South Bay Energy Corp., and Utility Expense Reduction, LLC (see details here and here)

Several other ESCOs, (such as Ambit New York, LLC; Zone One Energy LLC; and National Fuel Resources, Inc.) have also submitted waiver requests and their petitions were subject to an earlier round of comments

The Utility Intervention Unit of the New York State Department of State’s Division of Consumer Protection reiterated its earlier comments (see earlier story for more details), and opposed waiver requests which have not shown that APP customers will be guaranteed savings (as numerous of the requests were redacted, UIU's specific comments were limited to those limited waiver which publicly described the proposed APP plans)

Furthermore, UIU said that ESCOs should be required to obtain affirmative consent to transfer an existing APP customer, on a non-compliant product, to one of the new compliant products proposed in their waiver requests

"UIU recommends that (1) APP customers in a non-compliant ESCO contract should be able to opt-out without penalty and (2) ESCOs should not be able to move APP customers from non-compliant contracts into a compliant guaranteed savings contract without obtaining their affirmative informed consent. From reviewing the ESCO petitions filed, it seems that parties are unclear about whether and/or how ESCOs will be permitted to transfer APP customers from non-compliant contracts to Commission approved guaranteed savings contracts. As UIU recommended in prior comments, APP customers in a non-complaint ESCO contract should be offered the opportunity to opt-out of the contract in the next monthly billing cycle without facing a penalty," UIU said

"Further, an ESCO’s compliant guaranteed savings contract may be vastly different from the plan a customer originally choose [sic] to enroll in and APP customers should not be switched into this plan without their affirmative informed consent. For example, suppose the customer choose a variable rate plan with no termination fee so they could easily switch back to the utility if any month was too volatile. In a guaranteed savings plan, a customer could be overcharged for months and have to wait up to months for the reconciliation refund. Thus, the customer must have the opportunity to decline enrollment in the guaranteed savings plan without penalty," UIU said

The New York Attorney General and the City of New York, in separately filed comments, generally also asked the PSC to carefully scrutinize the ESCOs' petitions, and, of those petitions with substantive publicly disclosed details, opposed the ESCOs' sought waivers as unsupported

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