PUCT to Consider Changes to Power to Choose Site, Greater Fee Disclosure

PUCT Staff will consider limiting the number of offers a REP may list on the Power to Choose site to improve the customer experience in using the site.

Staff held a workshop yesterday on various Power to Choose issues, and the avalanche of offers currently available -- as high as 250 for some service areas -- was cited by several stakeholders as making the site hard to use for customers.

The Office of Public Utility Counsel suggested limiting REPs to listing three to five offers on the site to address this problem, in a suggestion supported by several other consumer advocates.

Staff took no formal position during the workshop, but agreed that the current number of offers is "overwhelming."

TXU Energy suggested that customers, at the time of entering their zip code, be prompted to select via radio button whether they want to view fixed, indexed, variable, or all products, with simple descriptions of each. Aside from reducing the number of offers listed to a more manageable level, TXU said that this prompt would (when a specific product type is selected) allow more educated and helpful comparisons, as opposed to the current format where, under current market conditions, lower priced variable rates dominate the top of the chart.

Staff said that it is considering grouping all products of the same type into unique "tabs" that the customer could then click on from a page to view only those products.

Another major issue for consumer advocates is greater disclosure of various fees not included in the quoted average rate per kilowatt-hour. OPUC, in particular, cited monthly fees incurred when a minimum usage threshold is not met as requiring greater disclosure or transparency through the Power to Choose price ranking.

Staff agreed that the site needs to make it easy for customers to understand what their monthly bill will be with a specific product, including various fees.

Consumer advocates also suggested that the Power to Choose site provide a description or standard information about each REP in an easy to access manner, including its complaint rate and date licensed. Direct Energy said this information should include a "financial" piece, to give customers some idea of what kind of REP they are dealing with.

Staff said that its review of the site will be driven by two overriding considerations: (1) that the site is designed for customers, not REPs or for market research, and (2) budgetary constraints.