ESCO Seeks New York PSC Order Authorizing Home Warranty Bundle, Carbon-Neutral Gas Plans

May 8, 2020

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Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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Interstate Gas Supply, Inc. and affiliates petitioned the New York Public Service Commission for a declaratory ruling finding IGS Energy's Carbon-Neutral Natural Gas Product and Home Warranty Service Product meet the requirements for Energy-Related Value Added (ERVA) services set forth in the PSC's December 2019 retail market reset order

"The Commission should further determine that IGS Energy may serve mass-market customers on this ERVA-authorized service without the additional requirement of pairing the product with a compliant guaranteed savings or fixed-rate offering tied to the utility's trailing 12 month average price," as required by the reset order, IGS Energy said

In the alternative, IGS Energy asked the Commission to grant a waiver of the requirements outlined in the reset order, allowing IGS Energy to offer its Carbon-Neutral Natural Gas product and Home Warranty Service Product to mass-market customers without the requirements of guaranteed savings or a fixed-price that is based on the utility's 12 month trailing average price.

As previously reported, for natural gas, ESCOs under the reset order are limited to providing mass market customers with a guaranteed savings (versus the utility) plan, or a fixed rate product that is limited in price to a 12-month trailing average utility supply rate plus a 5% premium. The compliance deadline for such product limits has been extended to August 10, 2020

Specific details concerning IGS's Carbon-Neutral Natural Gas product were filed on a confidential basis

IGS did say that it proposes to offer the Carbon-Neutral Natural Gas product as a fixed price product that is not tied to the 5% cap based on the utility's 12 month trailing average price, and on a variable rate basis with no guarantee of savings.

Concerning its Home Warranty Service Product, IGS Energy said that its Home Warranty Service Product is nearly identical to the already approved ERVA product offered by Agway Energy Services, LLC.

"Since IGS Energy can offer a near-identical product, IGS Energy requests that the Commission issue a declaratory judgement confirming that its Home Warranty Service Product meets the requirements outlined in the Order or through the grant of a waiver of the requirements provided in the [reset] Order," IGS said

IGS Energy noted that it provides a Home Warranty Service Product to over 100,000 residential and small commercial customers across the country. "This innovative product is offered to customers bundled with retail electricity or retail natural gas commodity service. We offer a myriad of plans to our highly satisfied customer base, including inside/outside utility line protection, HVAC system protection, and comprehensive complete home protection with individual annual protection limits up to a combined annual limit of $34,500," IGS Energy said

The complete Home Warranty Service Product covers, among other things, inside utility lines, outside utility lines, furnace, central AC, boiler/heat pump, and water heater.

IGS Energy also offers a Heating and Cooling warranty product that provides an annual protection limit of $2,000.

"IGS Energy envisions offering its Home Warranty bundled with fixed and variable rate retail natural gas and retail electricity offerings. As this proposed product is an ERVA, the fixed price offering should not be tied to the utility's trailing 12 month average, and a variable product offering should not have to guarantee savings to customers. Customers can use the on-bill comparison to determine if they are receiving the 'value' for which they bargained," IGS said

IGS asked for an order providing that IGS may offer the Home Warranty product as a variable-rate product with no guarantee of savings or as a fixed price product that is not capped at 5% over the utility's trailing 12 month average price.

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