Pa. State Rep.: Accelerated Switching Not Sufficient Customer Protection Against Variable Rates

The Pennsylvania PUC's accelerated switching timeline, which allows a switch to be completed within three business days, does not provide customers with sufficient customer protection against variable rates, Pennsylvania State Representative Robert Godshall, Chair of the Consumer Affairs committee, said during a hearing yesterday.

Godshall said that because customers aren't notified of variable rates in advance, and due to the attendant lag in the composition, mailing, and opening of the first bill with a high variable rate, customers may still be exposed to a higher variable rate for nearly two months without notice before they can take advantage of an accelerated switch to leave the rate once they receive the first bill with the high rate

Godshall said, before the start of the year, that he will be re-introducing legislation to regulate variable rate contracts offered to residential and small business customers by competitive electric generation suppliers, introduced as HB 2104 in the 2013-2014 session. Most notably, that bill would have limited variable rate increases to no more than 30% each month, and would have required additional disclosure of rates. Godshall has not yet filed text for a new bill addressing this issue.