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State Proposes That All Retail Electric Sales Transactions Must Be Recorded From Beginning To End

State Proposes Specific Requirements for TPVs

June 7, 2017

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

The Connecticut PURA has released for comment draft changes to the electric supplier marketing standards.

Among notable new provisions under the PURA draft is a proposed requirement that, "[a]ll sales transactions must be recorded from beginning to end, upon advance notice to the customer."

"These recordings must be retained with the accompanying TPV for a rolling period of no less than 36 months," the draft provides

"For door-to-door agents, the entire sales transaction must be recorded on a tablet and retained for a rolling period of no less than 36 months," the draft provides.

The draft also provides prescriptive requirements for TPVs, proposing that all third party verifications (TPVs), at a minimum, must be conducted as follows:

a. TPV agent states the time and date of call;

b. Either:

    1. In the case of a door-to-door solicitation, confirm the door-to-door agent has left the residence; (Customer must respond yes/no)

    2. In the case of a telephone solicitation, confirm the agent has left the call (Customer must respond yes/no)

c. Confirm the name of customer on call; (Customer must respond with their first and last name)

d. Confirm person on call is authorized to change the generation service provider on the electric bill; (Customer must respond yes/no)

e. Confirm the name of supplier making the offer and that the customer understands that the supplier is a third-party not affiliated with the customer’s EDC; (Use the name of the EDC - Customer must respond yes/no)

f. Confirm customer’s account number, name, service address and telephone number (have the customer read the information directly from their bill);

g. Confirm rate and term of offer (Have customer respond that they understand yes/no);

h. Confirm whether any additional fees apply and the amount (Have customer respond that they understand yes/no);

i. Confirm that if a customer has a three (3) day rescission period in which they can change their mind, and INCLUDE correct telephone number to cancel (Have customer respond that they understand yes/no);

j. Ask, "Are you aware that by authorizing this transaction, you confirm that you are changing your electric generation service to [Company]." (Have customer respond that they understand yes/no).

The draft would also require that all training for independent representatives must be, "performed directly by an employee of the supplier to all agents." [emphasis added]

The draft provides that it is the responsibility of every licensed electric supplier to ensure that any employees, representatives, agents, brokers, vendors, or any individual or group of individuals acting on behalf of or under contract to the supplier do not engage in false, misleading or deceptive conduct, nor perform unauthorized switching of customer accounts. If deceptive conduct is discovered, the supplier must notify the Authority in writing as soon as possible, but no later than within five (5) business days of discovery. Such notification shall include a detailed description of the incident, the investigation and the planned resolution, the draft provides

The draft provides that all enrollments must be sent to the electric distribution company (EDC) within seven (7) business days of a customer’s request to switch. If the supplier is unable to enroll the customer for any reason, the supplier shall immediately notify the customer that the enrollment has been rejected via the customer’s preferred method of notification. If applicable, the period of time used to determine whether an early termination fee is assessed shall run from the date after the three-day (3) rescission period, rather than the date of processing, to the date a contract is terminated.

The draft would extend the time by which suppliers must send an advance notice of contract assignment to PURA from the current 45 days before the assignment to 60 days.

In cases of an assignment, the draft proposes that all customers will have the option to terminate or cancel services with the new licensed electric supplier, with no cancellation fee charged to the customer, should the customer terminate or cancel service up to seven (7) business days after receiving the first billing statement reflecting charges from the new licensed electric supplier. This right to cancel services with no cancellation fee shall be included in all notice letters sent to customers in assignments, the draft provides

Regarding the requirements related to the rate board, the draft would add the requirement that the supplier's rates on the rate board must, "match those on the supplier’s website, be generally available" [sic]

The draft provides that all verbal and electronic marketing materials disclosing the EDC standard service price must be updated within 48 hours of PURA’s release of a new standard service price. The use of written marketing materials with the expiring EDC standard service price must be updated to reflect the new standard service price or be discontinued within 5 days of PURA’s release of the new standard service price.

The draft provides that any renewal contract that contains an ETF must conspicuously disclose the amount of the ETF and inform customers that they have up to seven (7) business days after receiving the first billing statement to terminate the contract without any fee. Such statement shall be bolded in a separate paragraph with at least 16 size font.

In addition to accepting comments, PURA will hold a public hearing on the draft changes on July 24, 2017

Docket 14-07-20RE01

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