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Connecticut OCC Seeks Immediate Order Ensuring Retail Supplier Customers Will Not Receive False Next-Cycle Rate Info, No Charged Rate Higher Than Listed Rate

Alleging 39 Retail Suppliers Were Non-compliant with Next Rate Obligation, Senator Blasts "Lethargic" Enforcement By PURA

February 19, 2018

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

The Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel petitioned the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to issue an interim order to the electric distribution companies to file a compliance plan or compliance assurance by no later than February 23, 2018, ensuring and demonstrating by a near-term date certain that electric customers (i) will not receive false information as to Next Cycle Rate on their monthly electric bills, and (ii) will not be charged a rate that is higher than that noticed as Next Cycle Rate on their prior bill.

OCC's request follows calls from State Sen. Len Suzio for an investigation into the next-month rate information after his competitive supplier apparently sent the utility incorrect information for the next-month rate section of the bill. See RetailEnergyX.com for more details

"PURA (and OCC) have received the credible complaint of Senator Len Suzio dated February 9, 2018 (copy attached as Attachment A) indicating that at least Eversource Energy’s ('Eversource') billing and software systems are not already designed to ensure that a customer is not charged in the next billing cycle more than the amount in the 'Next Cycle Rate' box on the bill. That is, customers are entirely vulnerable to being falsely assured through the Eversource electric bill that the 'Next Cycle Rate' will be X cents per kilowatt hour, and yet being charged more than X," OCC alleged

"Moreover, there is no reason to believe that Senator Suzio’s situation is unique. In fact, the EDCs' responses to PURA interrogatories have indicated that in one month alone, electric suppliers failed to provide the 'Next Cycle Rate' information for more than 20,000 customers. See, e.g., Docket No. 14-07-19RE01, Eversource and The United Illuminating Company ('UI' Responses to SEU-003 & SEU-004," OCC said [data responses from Feb. 2017]

State Sen. Len Suzio had cited the same data in an initial letter to PURA, blasting what he called PURA's "lethargic" enforcement process.

"Even more alarming, is the 'response' of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, which appears to have knowingly tolerated the dissemination by the EDC's of inaccurate information on residential energy bills for at least a year. Documentation within the Docket No. 14-07-19RE01 files clearly shows the Authority had in its possession information (see Q-SEU-004, dated February 14, 2017) provided by Eversource indicating that 39 'Suppliers' were not providing information in the 'Next Month's Price' field on residential electric bills," Suzio wrote

"The Authority, knowing that suppliers were failing to provide to the EDC's accurate information (described by the OCC and the AG as 'vital' in their July 2015 joint letters to the PURA about this topic) as required by statute and decisions of the Authority did not appear to grasp the urgency of the situation nor the potential immediate and ongoing consequences for residential rate payers," Suzio wrote

"[T]the lethargic enforcement process of the Authority as exhibited by the Docket files suggests no sense of urgency by the Authority while thousands of residential rate payers continued to receive inaccurate information for a year or more," Suzio wrote

"It is an untenable situation for customers to be vulnerable to receiving false information on their monthly electric bills," OCC said

"A simple and prudent software fix would be, and would have all along been, to require that this month’s billed generation service rate can be no higher than the amount stated in last month’s 'Next Cycle Rate' box," OCC said

"One interim solution, though it would not be optimal for the longer term, would possibly be greater use of a 'Not Provided' message in the 'Next Cycle Rate' box whenever an EDC does not timely receive information, coupled with a notice to contact the supplier. Eversource has already promised to use this approach, in a November 16, 2015 Compliance Filing in Docket No. 14-07-19RE01, whenever a supplier fails to provide the 'Next Cycle Rate.' See Attachment B. A potential plethora of 'Not Provided' messages is deeply sub-optimal for a long-term solution, but in the interim it would solve the emergent and greater issue that customers are being subjected to misinformation and overcharges," OCC said

Suzio, in his initial complaint to PURA, sought the following relief:

The Authority should issue a cease and desist order to the EDC's effective immediately and concomitantly order that under no circumstances can a residential rate increase without the residential rate payer receiving accurate "next rate" information as required by the Authority's Decision of August 12, 2015.

• The Authority also should order the utility companies to refund any overpayments by rate payers who were charged a higher rate in their monthly supplier charge than the "next cycle rate" that had been indicated in their previous bill

• The Authority should fine suppliers who continue to either not provide next cycle rate information or provide incorrect information

• The Authority should fine the EDC's for knowingly disseminating incorrect "Next Cycle Rate" information

"This problem appears to have been going on for 2 years. Enough is enough. It's time to treat this misinformation as a high priority, to stop it and to correct the situation now," Suzio wrote

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