Connecticut Utilities Ordered to Notify PURA of Any "Significant" Drop of Customers by Retail Suppliers

The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority directed The Connecticut Light and Power Company and The United Illuminating Company to notify the Authority when any electric supplier serving Connecticut customers is in default at ISO New England, "or when a significant number of any electric supplier's customers are being dropped by the supplier."

Such notification shall be in writing and filed with the Authority within 24 hours of any such incident, PURA directed.

PURA's direction to inform the Authority of "significant" drops of supplier customers was not limited to drops to default service, and as written would encompass any sale of a customer book.

The term "significant" is not defined in PURA's two-sentence direction to the electric distribution companies. Obviously, "significant" could be measured in a number of different manners -- either an absolute threshold number of customer accounts, or as a percent of a supplier's existing customer base.

PURA's direction was titled "Re: Notification of Defaulting Electric Suppliers" but the language above, while citing defaults at ISO-NE, does not limit the reporting obligations of the EDCs to customer drops related to defaults, but rather encompasses all customer drops.

PURA said that its direction falls under §16-245u of the General Statutes of Connecticut, which requires the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to monitor the market for electric generation services and take actions to prevent unfair or deceptive trade practices.