ESCO: Broker Fees Becoming "Larger and Larger"; NY PSC "Remiss" Not To Address Disclosure of Such Fees

The New York PSC would be "remiss" to not address the "larger and larger" share of the customer's electricity price made up of broker fees, Big Apple Energy said in comments to the PSC on a price benchmarking whitepaper

In comments earlier in the retail market reset proceeding (click for story), Big Apple Energy had said, "If nothing else comes out of these proceedings it should be that the broker community become fully regulated with complete transparency on fees"

In comments filed on June 6, Big Apple Energy continued to push for regulation of brokers, stating, "The reference price formula is able to take into account as many variables as we ask it to. In [our] comments of March 14, 2016, [we] raised the issue of the need for full disclosure of broker commissions as a goal that the PSC should seek to achieve. This sentiment was also mentioned in the comments of the NYS Attorney General of April 4, 2016. Lately, when ESCOs have been performing their own calculations of their cost inputs, the broker commissions have become a larger and larger share of the price to the customer. It is no longer an insignificant part of the cost. It is only reasonable that brokers be brought into this process through full disclosure of their fees. We are spending a significant amount of time on establishing proper guidelines and the PSC would be remiss to not take this opportunity to address this issue."