New York PSC Grants Waiver To Another ESCO Allowing It To Serve Low-Income Customers

The New York PSC at its session today granted a waiver to Utility Expense Reduction, LLC allowing the company to serve assistance program participant (APP) customers with a product that guarantees savings versus default service

For electricity customers, UER will, under the guaranteed savings plan for APP customers, provide 100% renewable energy that is fully compliant with the Commission’s environmental disclosure program (EDP) to its existing low-income electric customers under a variable-priced month-to-month contract that ensures a low-income customer, on an annual basis, will pay no more than what he or she would have paid if the customer received full service from the utility company.

UER had said in filings with the PSC that, upon granting of the waiver, UER will immediately begin to enroll all of its existing APP customers, whether on fixed term or monthly variable contracts, into its new product to provide immediate price protection to its current low-income customers.

Existing low-income gas customers will be served via a variable-priced month-to-month contract that ensures the customer, on an annual basis, will pay no more than what he or she would have paid if the customer received full service from the utility company.

UER informed the PSC that it does not intend to actively market the program and would instead only automatically enroll customers into the compliant product where those customers were identified as APP customers during the enrollment process.

As with the waivers granted to other ESCOs, the UER waiver is limited to 24 months, to allow the PSC to review the program and compliance. UER may seek an extension at such time.