Regulator Adopts Standards Of Conduct For Door-to-Door Marketing, Notice Requirement

The Massachusetts DPU has adopted in a final order new notice requirements, and Standards of Conduct, for the door-to-door marketing of electricity

Under the Standards of Conduct, Competitive Suppliers, Electricity Brokers, and third-party door-to-door vendors conducting door-to-door marketing campaigns in Massachusetts shall be required to adopt the following standards of conduct:

1. All personnel engaging in a door-to-door marketing campaign shall produce and display identification clearly stating the Competitive Supplier or Electricity Broker’s name (under which it does business) and logo, and the individual’s first name, photo, and identification number.

2. All personnel engaging in a door-to-door marketing campaign shall provide a phone number on request that the customer can call to verify the identity of the individual and Competitive Supplier or Electricity Broker they are representing.

3. All personnel engaging in a door-to-door marketing campaign shall identify the Competitive Supplier or Electricity Broker which he/she represents upon commencement of the sales call.

4. Personnel engaging in a door-to-door marketing campaign may not represent, in any way, that he/she is affiliated with the local distribution company serving the customer.

The DPU also adopted, for residential marketing, a notification requirement, which competitive supply companies will be responsible for complying with even when a third-party door-to-door vendor is hired to conduct the door-to-door marketing campaign.

The door-to-door notices, which shall be filed with the DPU, shall indicate, among other things, whether the supplier is using its own employees or third-party vendors for the marketing, the identities of such third party vendors, the cities and towns in which marketing will occur, and contact information for individuals at the supplier responsible for overseeing the marketing

The door-to-door Notice must be filed with the Department no later than 5:00 p.m. the day before the start of a door-to-door marketing campaign in Massachusetts. If renewing an expiring Notice, a supplier must file a new Notice no later than 5:00 p.m. the day before its current Notice expires

The Notice is valid for 30 calendar days from the date of filing.

Door-to-door notices will be valid for 30 days, at which point a competitive supply company will need to resubmit a Notice if it is continuing its door-to-door marketing campaign. A competitive supply company will also need to file a new Notice, prior to the expiration of the 30-day period, if any of the information in the Notice changes.

"The Department finds that submitting a new notice every 30 days, via email, is not unduly burdensome. For example, a competitive supply company that continuously engages in door-to-door marketing throughout the year would be required to email a one and a half page Notice twelve times a year. Further, if none of the substantive information in the Notice has changed at the expiration of the 30-day period, the competitive supply company would only be required to change the date and then email the updated Notice to the Department," the DPU said

Concerning the requirement to identify third-parties in the Notice, the Department considers a third-party door-to-door vendor to be an entity with whom the competitive supply company has contracted to conduct its door-to-door marketing campaign. Thus, the Notice requires the third-party door-to-door vendor’s company name and the contact information of a supervisor or manager, not a list of every person that may be engaged in a door-to-door marketing campaign for the third-party door-to-door vendor.

The Notice requires an attestation from the supplier that all required local permits have been obtained for door-to-door marketing. The Department confirmed that it will allow either the competitive supply company or its third-party door-to-door vendor to obtain the necessary permits and comply with all municipal notification requirements before initiating the door-to-door marketing campaign.

As part of the door-to-door Notice, supplier must attest that background checks have been conducted, by either the supplier or its vendor, on the following personnel engaging in a door-to-door marketing campaign: (1) any sales agent who participates in a door-to-door marketing campaign and may interact directly with a customer, whether employed directly by the competitive supply company or by a third-party door-to-door vendor; and (2) any other competitive supply company or vendor employees that are in the field and may interact with a customer during a door-to-door marketing campaign, for example, supervisors or quality control employees

The DPU will not require a separate background check for all 50 states. The Department will, however, require competitive supply companies to obtain and review: (1) a Massachusetts-specific search of the criminal offender records (iCORI) maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Criminal Justice Information Services; (2) a criminal history record from every other state that the applicant or employee has resided within the last 24 months; and (3) a search of the sex-offender registry maintained by the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board.

Responding to requests from suppliers for guidance on what information found on a background check should constitute grounds for excluding an individual from door-to-door marketing (suggesting whether a jaywalking conviction would disqualify someone), the DPU declined to provide specific guidance.

"We note that there are likely many categories of information and degrees of infractions that may be revealed from a background check. It is not practicable for the Department to opine on such information in a vacuum and enumerate disqualifying conduct. Accordingly, it is incumbent upon each competitive supply company, exercising good business judgment, to review each background check and determine whether an individual is suitable for employment in a door-to-door marketing campaign. If an issue arises with a particular employee, the Department will determine whether the requisite background checks were conducted and, if so, whether the competitive supply company made a reasonable determination to hire an individual based on the results of the background check," the DPU said

The DPU declined to require that the door-to-door notices include an attestation that suppliers have trained their agents. "The Department does, however, encourage competitive supply companies to train their employees and third-party door-to-door agents on the competitive supply market," the DPU said

The DPU also did not adopt specific requirements regarding complaint data retention. However, "the Department expects competitive supply companies to maintain accurate and up-to-date customer complaint data in accordance with the relevant case law, and to make complaint data available to the Department when requested. The Department also expects competitive supply companies to immediately notify the Department of any serious complaints. The Department may investigate specific complaint data retention requirements in a future proceeding," the DPU said

Eversource and National Grid had argued that competitive supply companies should be prohibited from requesting a customer’s account number until the customer agrees to enter into a contract or sales transaction with the competitive supply company. The DPU declined this proposal as not thoroughly examined in the proceeding. "In addition, the Department has concerns that door-to-door marketing agents may not be able to correctly identify a customer’s rate class (e.g., whether the customer receives a low-income discount) and provide the customer with the correct products if they are unable to obtain the account information until a customer agrees to sign a contract. These issues should be investigated before the Department adopts this requirement and, as a result, the Department declines to adopt this requirement in the Standards of Conduct at this time," the DPU said

D.P.U. 14-140-G