Municipal Aggregations Which Enroll Customers On Opt-Out Basis Demand That Retail Suppliers Obtain Customer's Signature On Disclosure Sheet For Door-to-Door Enrollments

A group of municipalities which run opt-out aggregations recommended to the Massachusetts DPU that retail suppliers should be required to obtain a customer’s signature on a copy of a proposed disclosure sheet

The municipalities' comments came in a DPU investigation reviewing the retail energy market and various customer protections, the opening of which had been first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com (see story here).

The municipalities' recommendation for the signing of the disclosure statement specifically came in response to a subpart regarding a question about door-to-door sales.

The municipalities stated, "The Department should establish a uniform format for the disclosure of information, and should require that the marketer obtain the customer’s signature on a copy of the disclosure sheet. Without a uniform disclosure format, there is no doubt that at least some door-to-door marketers will not present all of the information clearly, and without a customer signature requirement at least some door-to-door marketers will not present the information at all. In addition, the supplier should be required to leave a copy of the disclosure sheet with the customer."

The municipalities included the Cities of Cambridge, Greenfield, Medford, Melrose, Newton, and Salem, and the Towns of Acton, Arlington, Bellingham, Chelmsford, Foxborough, Grafton, Nantucket, Natick, Stoneham, Sutton, Westborough, and Winchester

Such municipalities have the luxury of enrolling customers onto their electricity supply product without having to obtain an affirmative customer authorization

At times, such municipalities have enrolled customers onto products whose price exceeded the then-applicable basic service rate

For example, according to the program's website, Salem's default municipal aggregation product has a price of 9.965¢/kWh for the term June 2017 meter reads to June 2019 meter reads. At the start of such term in June 2017, the National Grid basic service rate was 9.432¢/kWh

Also, according to the program's website, Natick's default municipal aggregation product has a price of 11.427 ¢/kWh for the term July 2018 meter reads to July 2019 meter reads. At the start of such term in July 2018, the Nstar basic service rate was 11.397¢/kWh

D.P.U. 19-07