AEP Ohio Clarifies Treatment of Customers Under Prior Waiver of 90-Day Switching Notice Period

AEP Ohio has clarified how it will re-implement the 90-day switching rule and application of the 12-month minimum stay requirement in the wake of the rejection of its electric security plan.

Specifically, in AEP Ohio's tariff compliance filing on February 28, 2012, AEP Ohio stated that the 90-day switching rules were being re-instituted prospectively and that AEP Ohio, "agrees that the 12-month minimum stay requirement will not apply to customers that submitted a 90-day notice after September 7, 2011 (in reliance on the Stipulation) and prior to the effective date of the new tariffs and do not end up taking service from a CRES within the 90-day period."

The Commission's March 7 Entry approved the tariffs re-implementing the 90-day switching rules as proposed by AEP Ohio.

"In practical terms, this means that when customers submitted a 90-day notice after September 7, 2011 they may have expected (based upon the Stipulation) that the 12-month minimum stay requirements would not apply if they chose not to switch at the end of the 90-day notice period. The 90-day notice requirement will apply when the new tariffs are approved. Any customer that submitted a 90-day notice between September 7, 2011 and December 31, 2011 will not be subject to the 12-month minimum stay requirement associated with that notice. Those 90-day notices will expire at the end of the 90-day period. A customer that submitted a 90-day notice that has expired will be required to submit a new 90-day notice (and the 12-month minimum stay would apply to the new notice) prior to switching to a CRES. If a customer submitted a 90-day notice in 2011 that has not expired the customer can switch to a CRES under the terms of that 90-day notice," AEP Ohio said in a PUCO filing.