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Connecticut PURA Draft Would Require EDCs To List "Not Provided" Under Retail Supplier "Next Rate" Section If Info Not Provided By Supplier

March 19, 2018

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

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The Connecticut PURA has issued a draft order which would require the electric distribution companies to list "Not Provided" on customer bills in the section listing the next rate information of the customer's retail supplier if the supplier has not provided rate information to the EDCs for this section.

EDCs are required to display certain summary information on all residential electric bills, including information about the generation rate effective for the customer’s next billing cycle (Next Rate). As previously reported, on February 9, 2018, the Authority received a written complaint from State Senator Suzio alleging inaccurate Next Rate information was displayed on his residential electric bill. See prior story for more details

Pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. §§16-245d and 16-9, the Authority under the draft order would reopen Docket No. 14-07-19 and Docket No. 14-07-19RE01 for the limited purpose of requiring the EDCs to display "Not Provided" in the Next Rate field on the residential customer bill and include a message for the customer to contact the supplier to obtain the information whenever a residential customer’s supplier does not timely provide the EDC with an updated Next Rate.

"Pursuant to this Decision, the EDCs will display 'Not Provided' for the Next Rate on a customer’s bill when the supplier does not provide the EDC with the appropriate Next Rate in a timely manner for the next customer bill. The EDC may leave the Next Rate field blank, if necessary, for the duration of time it takes to format its billing system to accept 'Not Provided' in the Next Rate field," the draft would provide

"The EDC no longer may continue to insert the last Next Rate provided by a supplier if the supplier did not provide the rate in a timely manner for the current billing cycle. Based on the Authority’s review of Senator Suzio’s complaint, the EDCs’ responses to Interrogatories SEU 6 through 8 submitted in Docket No. 14-07-19RE01, and the arguments and analysis contained in the OCC’s Motion No. 7, the Authority concludes that it is in the best interest of ratepayers to display no information or "Not Provided' for the Next Rate when an electric supplier fails to timely provide an updated Next Rate," the draft would provide

"The Authority directs that EDCs discontinue the practice of displaying the last Next Rate data provided by an electric supplier when the supplier does not timely provide the rate for the next customer bill. In support of this conclusion, the Authority finds, as illustrated by the facts set forth in Senator Suzio’s compliant and corroborated by the EDCs’ interrogatory responses to SEU 6 through 8, that the practice of displaying the last Next Rate provided by suppliers whether or not it was current resulted in customers sometimes receiving inaccurate and potentially misleading information about their Next Rate, as customers expected the Next Rate displayed on their bills to be the rate they were to be charged during the next billing cycle," the draft would provide

"Commencing on or before July 1, 2018, the EDCs shall display no information or “Not Provided” for the Next Rate when an electric supplier fails to timely provide an updated Next Rate," the draft would provide

Docket No. 14-07-19RE01

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