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Consumer Counsel Narrows Petition Which Could End Retail Choice For Hardship Customers
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In response to a March 2017 Connecticut PURA procedural ruling, the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel has narrowed its petition to end retail electric choice for certain customers
As first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com, OCC in January 2017 had petitioned PURA to, "open a proceeding investigating the effects of abusive electric supplier marketing practices on vulnerable populations."
In doing so, OCC had noted that General Statutes§ 16- 245o(m) authorizes PURA to require that all "hardship" customers be served on default service, and not be permitted to be served by electric suppliers
In March 2017, PURA expressed concerns with OCC's petition and OCC's request for an "overly broad" investigation, and a lack of specific allegations of specific conduct, suppliers, and/or evidence of a trend (as opposed to isolated complaints) that would support the opening of such an investigation.
In a revised petition filed on April 30, PURA narrowed its focus to "hardship" customers as defined by statute, eliminating its earlier request concerning "vulnerable populations" generally.
"OCC tailors the scope of its Petition to follow the statutory path laid out in Section 16-245o(m) to examine the feasibility costs, and benefits of placing all 'hardship case' customers of suppliers on EDC Standard Service (default service). For the reasons identified herein, implementing the legislative invitation to open a proceeding to consider whether electric supply choice is appropriate for hardship customers is wholly in the public interest," OCC said in the revised petition
With this revised focus, OCC requested that PURA convene a proceeding to consider protections for hardship customers that is described in Connecticut General Statutes § 16-245o(m).
Section 16-245o(m) authorizes PURA to hold a proceeding to examine the feasibility, costs, and benefits of placing on Standard Service all customers of all electric suppliers (i) who are hardship cases, (ii) who are on payment plans, (iii) who receive other financial assistance from an electric distribution company (EDC), or (iv) who are otherwise protected by law from shut-off of electricity services. Such statute also authorizes PURA to order that all such customers be placed on Standard Service. If the authority issues such an order, it shall reopen such docket not less than every two years, the statute provides
A "hardship case" is defined as including, but not being limited to, the following categories of EDC customers:
(i) A customer receiving local, state or federal public assistance;
(ii) a customer whose sole source of financial support is Social Security, Veterans’ Administration or unemployment compensation benefits;
(iii) a customer who is head of the household and is unemployed, and the household income is less than three hundred per cent of the poverty level determined by the federal government;
(iv) a customer who is seriously ill or who has a household member who is seriously ill;
(v) a customer whose income falls below one hundred twenty-five per cent of the poverty level determined by the federal government; and
(vi) a customer whose circumstances threaten a deprivation of food and the necessities of life for himself or dependent children if payment of a delinquent bill is required.
"Importantly, to allay PURA’s valid concern for 'the potential for an overly broad investigation[,]' OCC respectfully submits that obtaining the data necessary to support PURA’s evaluation of the feasibility, costs, and benefits of placing on standard service all electric supplier hardship customers lends itself to structured discovery. PURA Procedural Order, Docket No. 17-01-33 (Mar. 24, 2017). Namely, it is OCC’s general understanding that the necessary supplier customer pricing data and other information about “hardship case” customers may be obtained directly from the EDCs in this docket through discovery. See, e.g., EDC Annual Hardship/Arrearage Reports to the Connecticut Legislature and PURA pursuant to General Statutes §16-262c(c). In particular, OCC submits that a subset of the data necessary to explore the benefits of placing hardship customers on standard service could be derived through disaggregated monthly supplier pricing data provided by the EDCs via public filings. See Monthly EDC Compliance Filings, Docket No. 06-10-22, PURA Monitoring the State of Competition in the Electric Industry (in monthly Compliance Filings, each EDC provides the number of residential customers for each supplier by price per kilowatt hour ('kWh') charged)," OCC said
"Finally, OCC respectfully submits that there is the likelihood that mandating that hardship customers receive standard service would dovetail with PURA and other stakeholders’ worthy objective to curtail EDC uncollectible expenses. It is generally recognized that electric ratepayer uncollectible expenses is a burgeoning issue in Connecticut, for which PURA recently opened a generic proceeding. Hardship customers are at risk that their hardship is being exacerbated by electric supply charges that materially exceed the standard service rate. This in turn can thwart a hardship customer’s ability to pay his or her electric bill and add to the uncollectible expenses paid for -- or subsidized -- by the general class of ratepayers through the statutory program in which the EDCs purchase the receivables of suppliers. See General Statutes § 16-244c(j). OCC submits that the degree to which hardship customers are paying electric supply rates higher than standard service, and the resulting impact on uncollectible expenses for all ratepayers, merits investigation in this proceeding," OCC said
OCC said that evidence of low-income customers' experience in New York and Massachusetts, where recent reports from the Department of Public Service Staff and Attorney General, respectively, show low-income customers paying "substantially more" under competitive supply than default service, support opening a review in Connecticut
Docket No. 17-01-33
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Says Review Would Dovetail With Regulator's Goal Of Reducing EDC Uncollectibles, Says Utility Uncollectibles Higher Due To Purchase Of Receivables (POR)
April 30, 2018
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Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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