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Senator Presses PURA To Require Retail Suppliers To Honor Current Rate If New Rate Not Provided For Listing As Next Month Rate On Bill

Slams Draft That Would Only Require EDCs To List "Not Provided" If Next Supplier Rate info Missing

March 20, 2018

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

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Connecticut State Senator Len Suzio slammed, as insufficiently protecting customers, a draft PURA 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.

Suzio pressed PURA to require that suppliers not charge a rate in excess of the last-provided rate if the Next Rate Info is not provided on a bill.

EnergyChoiceMatters.com first reported on March 19 (see story here) that PURA issued a draft under which the EDCs would be required to 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 would 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

"I strongly object to the draft ruling," Suzio said in a letter to PURA

"This draft ruling goes against the best interests of consumers," Suzio said

"It potentially leaves thousands of customers with no information about their next rate," Suzio said

"Leaving customers 'in the dark' is the worst decision the Authority could make," Suzio said

"The solution should be to mandate that under no circumstances should the actual rate charged in the next monthly bill ever exceed the stated rate in the Next Rate field in the prior monthly bill (two months earlier). This solution not only is fairer and clearer to customers, it should be as easy a fix for Eversource and United Illuminating as the temporary fix approved by the Authority," Suzio said

"The Authority’s decision also does nothing to correct inaccurate current billing rates that don’t agree with the next cycle rate which they are supposed to be based on. Under the Authority’s decision, suppliers who provide incorrect current cycle rate information that does not match the next rate transmitted in the appropriate earlier customer bill will be allowed to charge and collect money based on that incorrect rate even if it exceeds the rate that had been transmitted to the customer as long as the supplier had provided the incorrect next cycle rate on a timely basis. This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever," Suzio said

"The reality is that the Authority’s decision leaves uncorrected the vulnerability of customers to mistakes or fraudulent information provided by suppliers to Eversource and United Illuminating as long the suppliers transmit the incorrect information to Eversource and United Illuminating “on a timely” basis. This situation is completely intolerable, and the Authority’s decision is surprising considering this vulnerability," Suzio said

Suzio wrote that, "If you are going to tolerate this situation, you should order Eversource and United Illuminating to print a warning on their billings: 'Information related to your current rate contained in this billing may be unreliable and may not match the next rate information provided to you in the appropriate earlier statement two months ago. We suggest you compare your current supplier rate to the next cycle rate in the bill you received two months ago.'"

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