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Office Of Retail Market Development Recommends Utility Price To Compare Be Required To Be Listed On Retail Supplier Marketing, Solicitation Materials

Recommends PTC Be Listed On Utility Bills As Well

Will Seek Info On Customer Participation In Choice Based On "Geographic Location"

Will Consider "Rules" To Quantify Impact Of Value-Added Services

July 3, 2018

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Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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As part of an annual report, the Illinois Commerce Commission's Office of Retail Market Development has recommended that the utility's Price To Compare be included on any solicitation or marketing materials to mass market customers which contain a price per kWh.

"ORMD recommends that the Commission require all ARES include the PTC on solicitations or materials marketing electric power or energy services to a residential or small retail commercial electric customer that contains a price per kilowatt-hour," ORMD said in the report

Furthermore, "To provide additional transparency regarding costs to Illinois electric consumers, ORMD suggests that the Commission require electric utilities to prominently display the Price-to-Compare (PTC) on all bills for residential and small commercial retail customers. Such a requirement will increase the PTC visibility to all consumers whether they have already switched to an ARES or are considering making a switch," ORMD said in the report

"Illinois consumers should know their current electric cost as they consider switching from ComEd or Ameren to an alternate supplier. The ICC wants to make this information as easy to find as possible, and the most efficient solution is for the Price to Compare to appear on all consumer electric bills – every month," said Jean Gibson, ICC Director of ORMD, in a press release

ORMD said that it will also seek to better understand overall "market participation," and will, "investigate tactics and methodology to collect and analyze data on customer participation by geographic location."

While ORMD did not further explain the necessity of such information in the report, we ourselves would note that collection of choice participation by geographic location (such as zip code) could be a proxy for evaluating participation in choice by low-income customers, which has been a recent focus in several other states.

Additionally, ORMD Staff said that they will explore additional methods to better understand value-added incentives offered through the retail choice market. "Through research and workshops, ICC Staff will consider: Value-Added Reporting: to provide perspective on value-added benefits offered by ARES, ORMD will consider rules, standards, practices, forms, procedures and policies to quantify and collect consistent, measurable and verifiable data for items that could be considered to add value such as products, services, energy savings, renewable energy, and value of cash equivalent," ORMD said

Link to report

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