U.S. State To Ban Door-to-Door Electricity Sales

The New Hampshire PUC has issued a set of proposed revisions to the retail electric supplier rules that would prohibit suppliers from soliciting residential customers in person at the customer's residence, except in cases of a pre-scheduled meeting.

Specifically, the proposed rules would provide that, "Unless requested by the potential customer no less than 24 hours in advance, no CEPS [competitive supplier] or aggregator, or its representative, shall solicit a potential residential customer in person at the customer's residence."

A CEPS or aggregator, or its representative, would be permitted to contact a potential residential customer in person at a location other than the customer's residence, for the purpose of selling any product or service offered by the CEPS or aggregator.

Additionally, the proposed rules would impose certain restrictions on telemarketing by suppliers.

Apart from standard provisions concerning Do Not Call lists, the proposed rules would also provide that a CEPS or aggregator, or its representative, shall not, while soliciting by telephone, initiate any telephone call to, "[a] telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call."

Furthermore, a CEPS or aggregator, or its representative, shall not use, "a pre-recorded automated message to send unsolicited advertisements to potential customers," the proposed rules provide

The draft rules further provide that suppliers may not initiate any telephone solicitation to a customer or potential customer before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. eastern time, nor may suppliers initiate any telephone solicitation to a customer or potential customer on a weekend or any state or federal holiday

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Docket DRM 16-853