Utility Reports Incorrect Retail Supplier Next Cycle Rate Information Included On Subset Of Customer Bills

Connecticut Light & Power (Eversource) informed the Connecticut PURA that an issue was discovered on February 20, 2020 concerning the next-cycle rate information that appeared on certain customers’ February bills.

"Specifically, the Company discovered that the incorrect next-cycle rate appeared on a small set of January 2020 or February 2020 bills for certain residential customers whose third-party supply rate changed monthly. In these cases, the customer had two upcoming price changes: one for the next month (the 'first price change'), and another for the month after that (the 'stacked price change'). The stacked price change, two billing cycles ahead of the current month, should have appeared on the customer’s bill as the 'Next Cycle Rate'. However, due to an I.T. error, the first price change appeared instead," CL&P said

"This issue was caused by an I.T. error associated with I.T. changes that were made to implement Order No. 7 in the Final Decision in this docket. This issue affected a total of 669 customer accounts," CL&P said

"Please note, this issue did not impact the supply rate that any customer was charged," CL&P said

"As noted, this error only impacted residential customers whose third-party supply rate changed monthly. Additionally, as this was an I.T. error, only customers whose January or February bills were not processed manually were impacted," CL&P said

CL&P sought PURA approval for a notice it will send to customers concerning the error

CL&P said that the issue was immediately addressed by the Company on Friday, February 21, 2020. An I.T. solution was developed over the weekend, and the issue was rectified beginning Monday, February 24, 2020.

The notice is proposed to state:

Please accept our sincere apology for a system error, which caused the <> Cycle Rate from your third-party electric supplier to be incorrect on your <<02/04/2020>> bill. This information can be found in the Supplier Information section on page one of your Eversource bill.

This error did not impact the supply rate you were charged.

Incorrect <> Cycle Rate, which appeared on your bill: <<11.98>> ₵/kWh

Actual <> Cycle Rate: <<7.97>> ₵/kWh

Your <> Cycle Rate will take effect on <<3/4/2020>>, which you will see on your <> billing statement.