N.Y. Sets Collaborative Meeting on ESCO Service To Low-Income Customers (Accelerated Switching May Also Be Discussed)

New York PSC Staff will convene a further collaborative on July 23 to continue discussions on the following issues concerning the provision of services by ESCOs: defining the standards to be used to determine value added products and services that must be provided to Assistance Program Participants (APP); consider available technologies and mechanisms for implementing point-of-sale confirmation of APP customers; and consider how best to protect existing APP customers.

As previously reported, for an ESCO to serve a low-income assistance program customer, the ESCO, "must guarantee that the customer will pay no more, on an annual basis, than the customer would have paid as a full service customer of the utility, or the ESCO must provide Assistance Program Participants with energy-related value-added products or services." The collaborative is addressing how to implement certain issues related to this PSC ruling.

The collaborative also may discuss a draft report regarding proposals to accelerate switching of commodity service providers.