Draft Contract Summary Statement Would Require Retail Suppliers to List Fee Paid to Broker

A draft Connecticut PURA decision establishing a new standard contract summary form of the material terms and conditions for residential electric contracts would require the supplier to list any fee paid to a broker or aggregator.

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Specifically, the contract summary would be required to list any, "non-generation related cost or fee and the amount."

"Examples on non-generation costs or fees include Early Termination Fee, Deposits, Aggregator or Broker Fee," the draft states.

"Any non-generation related cost/fee that is included in (i.e., recovered through) the generation rate must be separately identified. For example, if a broker’s payment is recovered through the Generation Rate that cost and amount must be separately identified," the draft states.

The draft would require that suppliers list the generation rate in cents/kWh to three decimal places, and any cost or fee that is included in the generation rate must be listed in cents/kWh to the third decimal place.

If the rate is variable, the supplier must display the rate within the following statement: "xx.xxx cents/kWh for the first three complete billing cycles, variable thereafter and can increase up to 25% without notice."

The contract summary would require the supplier to list the specific service location/address for each account covered in the contract with the same generation rate, rate plan and other fees.

Suppliers would be required to list the length and expiration date of the contract. The length of the contract could be shown in months or billing cycles while the expiration date must refer to the month in which the customer’s meter will be read.

The contract summary would inform consumers whether the contract will automatically renew on the expiration date or whether the customer will be provided with options for a new contract when the current contract ends. A contract may automatically renew only if all of the terms and conditions, including the generation rate, rate plan and other fees remain identical to the original contract, the draft states

Samples of the contract summary can be seen in PURA's draft decision (click here)

Docket 14-07-17