Attorney General, OCC: "Thousands" of Choice Customers on Excessive Retail Supplier Rates (17¢-24¢)

The Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel and Attorney General yesterday issued a consumer alert warning that, "thousands of Connecticut residents [are] currently on rates above 17 cents per kWh, [with] some more than double [the] current Standard Offer price."

The Office of Consumer Counsel, "has confirmed with Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) that the following electric suppliers currently have at least some customers on rates higher than 17 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh): Discount Power, Choice Energy, Palmco Power, Starion Energy, Public Power, NextEra Energy, HOP Energy, Xoom Energy, Blue Pilot Energy, and Perigee Energy."

"Other customers have been charged rates as high as 24.9 cents per kWh on their latest bills, according to CL&P," OCC said.

At least two additional suppliers not named by OCC (Gulf Electricity, Town Square Energy) list a rate in excess of 17¢/kWh on CT EnergyInfo at CL&P, but it was unclear if such suppliers had actually billed any customers on those rates yet (the offers being for new enrollments). Nearly all of these cited suppliers also list an offer well below 17¢/kWh for new enrollments on CT EnergyInfo for fixed price products (generally below or in line with the default rate).

The OCC consumer alert was posted by Connecticut Light & Power on CL&P's facebook page.

"For some of these companies, thousands of customers are receiving these high rates. For many customers this is more than double the rate available through the standard offer rate from CL&P or United Illuminating (UI), which each offer rates around 9 cents per kWh. This kind of rate shock can really hit customers in their wallets, as this can be up to approximately $100 more per month than the standard offer rate for the average residential customer," Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz said.

"Customers must pay particular attention for the next several years if they are on a variable rate in the winter, as it is likely that winter price spikes will continue. Customers can always switch back to standard service or to another electric supplier if they are unhappy with their rate, but there may be termination fees for some electric suppliers of up to $100.00," the OCC said.

Consumer Counsel Katz stated, "Frankly, excessive variable rates and termination fees cost many consumers lots of money each year, and I am very concerned about them. What's the benefit to the consumer of paying more for the very same electricity they can get from their electric company or another supplier for less money?"

The OCC noted that PURA currently has an open docket (13-07-18) regarding retail supplier marketing, disclosure, and complaint issues, which had been first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com in July. To date, other than interrogatories issued by OCC, nothing substantive has been filed in the docket.

"A number of companies offer variable rate products that are marketed with an attractive and competitive teaser rate that is quickly replaced by significantly higher charges without notice," Attorney General George Jepsen said. "We have also received complaints from customers who enrolled in fixed rate supply arrangements who were automatically transferred to exorbitantly high variable rate products at the conclusion of the fixed rate term. Consumers who choose to utilize an alternative supplier should examine their bills closely each month and continuously evaluate whether there's a better option out there for them."