Consumer Advocate Seeks Re-examination Of Eligible Customer List Safeguards, Citing Alleged "Abuses" By Retail Suppliers

January 5, 2022

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Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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The Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate filed comments at the Pennsylvania PUC seeking a re-examination of safeguards and related provisions for the Eligible Customer Lists (ECL), as the OCA stated that it is "concerned" about alleged "abuses" of the ECL detailed in two recent settlement agreements between Pa. PUC Enforcement Staff and two affiliated retail suppliers

See background on the specific allegations concerning alleged misuse of the ECL in our prior stories here and here

OCA said that, based on the information disclosed in a tentative order concerning one of the settlements, it appears that the retail supplier, "had insufficient protections in place to ensure that its agents were not misusing customer information disclosed in the ECL to facilitate unauthorized enrollments."

"The ECL was intended to be a tool for suppliers to enroll customers with ease and to avoid accidental switches if the customer signing up does not have their account number in their possession. Unfortunately, it appears that this same tool intended to facilitate energy shopping is also the reason for customers unknowingly having their accounts switched. Thus, the OCA remains concerned with the need to protect customer personal information on the ECL to prevent further unauthorized switches in the energy marketplace," OCA said

"Given the apparent rise of allegations of ECL misuse, the OCA submits that it may well be time for the Commission to reexamine use of the ECL by suppliers to ensure that proper safeguards are in place to prevent misuse of customer data in the future," OCA said

Docket M-2021-3009235

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