Pa. Consumer Advocate Wants PUC to Require Retail Suppliers to Disclose Highest Rate Charged in Past Five Years

Pennsylvania retail electric suppliers should be required to disclose to customers the highest electric rate they have charged in the past 60 months, the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate said in comments to the PUC.

The OCA was commenting on several emergency proposals from the PUC to reform variable rate contracting, including advance customer notice of certain variable rate changes (click here for more details).

Among other things, the PUC has stated an intent to require that, for contracts with variable pricing, the EGS shall provide, "a telephone number and internet address at which a customer may obtain the previous 12 months' average monthly billed prices for that customer's rate class and EDC service territory.

The OCA sought to expand this disclosure requirement.

"[B]ecause the use of averages can mask the problem, and because the use of 12-month data may not be representative of the risk, EGSs should also be required to disclose the highest and lowest price per kilowatt-hour that has been charged for the customer's rate class and service territory to ensure that customers have more complete information."

"While some time frame may need to be placed on this proposal regarding the highest and lowest price, in the OCA's view it should be no less than 36 months to 60 months to properly reflect energy pricing changes over a reasonable period of time," OCA said.

While in its narrative comments OCA suggested 36 to 60 months as the required timeframe for highest/lowest rate disclosure, OCA used 60 months when proposing specific rule language.

The OCA also said that the PUC's proposed changes, which primarily address disclosure, do not go far enough. Regarding additional comments the PUC will make in a separate case, the OCA said, "Customer disclosure will be an important component of the OCA's recommendations, but other closely related recommendations, such as the proper third party verification and the potential need for caps on pricing changes, will need to be coordinated with disclosure requirements."