Purchase of Receivables Draws Ire at Pennsylvania House Hearing

Purchase of receivables, and specifically the utility's ability to disconnect service for non-payment of supplier charges, drew the ire of Pennsylvania State Representative Dan Moul, R, during a hearing yesterday concerning recent variable rate price spikes and proposed legislation to address the spikes.

Moul related the situation of a senior citizen who contacted his office and is facing a $2,000 bill who is having difficulty contacting and working out an arrangement with her electric supplier

Moul's initial recommendation was for the customer to make sure to first pay the distribution charges to her utility (a FirstEnergy EDC).

However, Moul learned when calling the EDC that paying the distribution charges in full, but only such charges, would not protect the customer from disconnection. Moul questioned how the EDC can be responsible to pay the supplier for the supplier's charges when the EDC is only acting as a pass-through, or collection agent, for the supplier, and the EDC itself hasn't received payment yet.

"Why would the PUC require FirstEnergy, in this case, to collect money and pay a bill [to the EGS] that they haven't collected the money for," Moul asked PUC Chairman Robert Powelson during the hearing.

Powelson asked for the constituent's information so that the PUC could work with the EDC and customer's supplier on the payment situation.