Retail Supplier "Default" Drops Customers to Utility Supply Service

A Connecticut retail electric supplier has "defaulted" and its customers were dropped to utility service.

However, the supplier, who had sold its Connecticut customer book earlier this year, had already notified customers of an intent to drop the customers to default service, but did not complete the transactions due to logistical problems.

Specifically, Reliable Power, LLC informed the Connecticut PURA on October 3 that it had, "received a call from Mr. Daryush Donyavi [of CL&P] notifying me that Reliable had defaulted on 36 customers this past 22nd of September. The reason for this was that our account was suspended due to our failure to file an Updated Certificate and Documentation in a timely manner. Our account was suspended for 24hrs."

In an October 3 letter to PURA, CL&P said that, "It has come to the attention of The Connecticut Light and Power Company ('CL&P'), that Reliable Power, LLC ('RP'), ceased providing third-party supply to customers, effective September 23, 2013."

"In order to provide continuous service to customers, CL&P placed the 36 customers on Standard Service such that no load is billed under this supplier by the retirement date. Should any of these customers be placed on back up service due to RP's inability to perform, CL&P will issue the required billing notifications as required by Connecticut Agencies Regulations § 16-244c-14(d)," CL&P said.

Pursuant to Connecticut Agencies Regulations § 16-244c-12(c), CL&P said that it is also in the process of notifying the 36 former RP customers of, among other things, the following:

(1) A statement, in bold print, advising that the customer will be receiving back-up service if the customer does not contract with another electric supplier by a specified date;

(2) The date, in bold print, by which the customer must elect and contract with another electric supplier to avoid being placed on back-up service; the rate, in bold print, of the back-up service at which the customer will be charged; and the terms and conditions of such back-up service

Reliable Power explained that it had sent out two communications (in June and July) informing residential customers, "that we would be unable to continue servicing them along with recommendations on seeking out new electricity suppliers."

"We had been unable to drop the accounts due to an inability of our customer management vendor to accurate[ly] sync the utility's active customer list," Reliable Power said

"At the moment, we are simply attempting to comply with the terms of our non-compete with Verde Energy. No decision has been made regarding exiting the territory," Reliable Power said.

As previously reported, Verde Energy acquired Reliable Power's Connecticut customer book in February

It was unclear why Reliable Power was serving customers as of September 2013 in light of this transaction, or if such customers were enrolled erroneously (Reliable Power citing its non-compete clause with Verde).