State Orders Utility to Refund Charges to Retail Suppliers

The New Hampshire PUC directed Public Service Company of New Hampshire to refund to retail electric suppliers the difference between temporary charges for certain services provided by the utility, and new charges adopted by the PUC yesterday.

"We direct PSNH to reconcile the temporary charges to the permanent charges. PSNH may either issue checks for the refunds or credit the amounts of the refunds to the bills owed by competitive supplier for services. We direct PSNH to consult with PNE, the Intervenors, and other affected competitive suppliers, on the manner in which to refund the reconciliation amounts to the competitive suppliers," the PUC said.

Under the new permanent charges, PSNH will eliminate the tariffed charge for customer selection and collection services.

Additionally, the PUC set the rate for billing and payment services to 7.0 cents per customer per month.

For comparison, the temporary charges were, effective February 1, 2014, $0.15 per selection charge transaction, 0.252% of total monthly receivables for collection services, and $0.26 per bill rendered for billing and payment services.

The PUC declined at this time to adopt PSNH's proposal to institute a $5 per customer charge addressing costs arising from a supplier default and return of customers to the utility, but ordered PSNH to further consider the issue, including a tariff for off-cycle meter reads. Staff was also ordered to study the issue and report back to the Commission, with the PUC stating that suppliers have an obligation to pay electric distribution utilities for all incremental costs associated with such default.

"We are concerned that the market price volatility that occurred in the 2013-2014 winter season may recur in the upcoming winter, potentially causing more competitive supplier defaults," the PUC said.