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Recission Period Would Function As "Opt-in" Period, Requiring Affirmative Action To Complete Switch, Under Regulator's Staff's Proposal
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Staff of the Massachusetts DPU have developed a revised proposal which would require that all retail electric enrollments must occur through the Energy Switch MA website.
As previously reported, Staff had proposed that "all" initial enrollments with a retail supplier must occur through the Energy Switch MA shopping website/rate board. Staff's proposal was made in the DPU's retail market review proceeding (19-07) which was opened to address the residential market, though an original Notice of Investigation specifically asked whether the previous proposals under consideration should also apply to the small C&I market
See full background here
As Staff described its original enrollment proposal, "suppliers could continue to
marketing and build brand recognition," but their role in
enrolling a customer would be limited to (1)
directing the customer to Energy Switch; and
(2) discussing why its product provides better value to the
customer than the other products listed
In response to certain feedback during the working group process, Staff developed a
revised proposal that is, "intended to address suppliers’
concerns while remaining true to our core principles." Staff's core principles include the principle that informed decision-making is the "fundamental building
block" of a well-functioning competitive supply market and that, to be informed, customers must be aware of the broad
range of supply products available to them before
"signing up" with a supplier
Staff described its revised Energy Switch MA enrollment proposal as follows:
Staff’s revised proposal involves a two-step process:
1. Suppliers would be allowed to initiate enrollments
through Energy Switch;
2. The customer would need to subsequently "confirm" the
enrollment through Energy Switch before the supplier
could send an "enrollment" transaction to the EDC.
Specifically, during the marketing "interaction," the
supplier would inform the customer that:
• If the customer seeks to move forward with the
enrollment, he/she needs to provide certain personal
information [ECM note: this would vary by utility but would generally include first name, last name, Service Address, Last 4 SSN, and, at National Grid, Phone # on Account]
--- [ECM note, not described in Staff's language, but from a graphical depiction separate from Staff's proposal, the customer would input this info on Energy Switch MA. The info would be sent to the EDC for validation, and, if correct, the EDC would send to Energy Switch MA the info to execute a switch, such as LDC Account #, Name Key, etc, depending on utility]
• Upon validation that the information is correct, the
supplier will send the customer the enrollment
"paperwork," which initiates the recission period
• During the recission period, the customer must go to
Energy Switch and confirm the enrollment, following the
same initial enrollment process
• NOTE that this confirmation would apply only to instances
in which suppliers initiate the Energy Switch enrollment
• The supplier would be precluded from sending an
enrollment transaction to the EDC until it receives the
customer "confirmation" from Energy Switch
• Absent such confirmation, the enrollment would be
nullified
Notably, Staff said of this revised proposal for supplier-initiated enrollments that, "In effect, in these instances, this proposal changes the
recission period from an 'opt-opt' process (customers
need to opt-out of the enrollment) to an 'opt-in'
process (customers need to confirm that they viewed
the broad range of supply products available to them
before finalizing the enrollment)."
Staff invited stakeholders to present alternate approaches to those proposed by Staff.
To optimize the value of those alternatives, Staff encouraged stakeholders to be mindful of the core principles that underlie Staff's proposal: (1) informed decision-making is the fundamental building block of a well-functioning competitive supply market; (2) to be informed, customers must be aware of the broad range of supply products available to them; and (3) Energy Switch provides information to customers regarding available supply products that is useful, understandable, and readily accessible
The DPU scheduled for July 1, 2025 a further work group meeting on Staff's enrollment proposal and other matters in the retail market review proceeding
Staff also presented views concerning market oversight
Staff envisioned establishing a system
that allows the DPU to validate that all enrollment
transactions were initiated (and confirmed, where
appropriate) through Energy Switch
More broadly, Staff said that the objective is to "weed out" those suppliers that rely
on deceptive/misleading practices to be profitable
"Staff expects that these market oversight activities
would be funded through suppliers’ annual license fees," Staff said in a presentation
19-07
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Regulator's Staff Revises Proposal To Require That All Enrollments Must Occur Through State-Run Website
June 11, 2025
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Copyright 2025 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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