Amendment #3 to H.4737

Amendment #3 to H4737

Protecting Consumers in the Electric Competitive Supply Market

Representatives Moran of Lawrence and Cabral of New Bedford move to amend the bill by adding the following section: SECTION X. in Section 11E of chapter 12 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the second sentence in first paragraph of subsection (a), and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:-

"The attorney general, through the office of ratepayer advocacy, may intervene, appear and participate in administrative, regulatory, or judicial proceedings on behalf of any group of consumers in connection with any matter involving a company doing business in the commonwealth and subject to the jurisdiction of the department of public utilities or the department of telecommunications and cable under chapters 164, 164A, 164B, 165, 166 or 166A."

SECTION XX. Chapter 164 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after Section 1K the following section:-

Section 1L. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:--

“low-income customer,” a retail customer in the Commonwealth who is on a residential low-income discount distribution rate as set forth in subsection (4) of section 1F, or participates in a low-income energy assistance program.

“residential retail customer,” a retail customer in the Commonwealth who is on a residential distribution rate.

“variable Rate,” a rate for electric generation services that changes over the course of the stated duration of an electricity supply agreement and is not a basic service rate nor a time varying or time of use rate as approved by the department.

(b) Beginning on January 1, 2019, no supplier, nor any entity acting on the supplier’s behalf, shall:

(1) (i) enter into an electricity supply agreement that charges a variable rate with a residential retail customer; or (ii) renew or cause to be renewed an electricity supply agreement that charges a residential customer a variable rate for electric generation service.

(2) extend an electricity supply agreement with a residential retail customer beyond the agreement’s stated term without receiving the customer’s affirmative written consent to do so at least two months prior to the end of the electricity supply agreement’s stated term.

(3) charge a cancellation fee of greater than fifty dollars to a residential retail customer.

(1) no less than quarterly, provide to the department (i) a list detailing each rate the supplier charged to residential retail customers; and (ii) the number of residential retail customers charged each rate included in such list by rate class. The Department shall publish this list of on the department’s website, energyswitchma.gov (or any successor website);

(2) no less than annually, provide data to the department concerning any renewable energy certificates retired in connection with the generation service provided to individual residential retail customers. Such data shall include the geographic location and fuel type of each such renewable energy certificate, whether each certificate is RPS Class I eligible, pursuant to section 11F of chapter 25A, and the percentage of the supply purchased from Class I generation in excess of the supplier’s annual Class I obligation. The department shall publish this information on its website, energyswitchma.gov (or any successor website);

(3) provide on its bills, if the electric supplier chooses to provide its own billing and collection services, at a minimum, the requirements listed in subsection (d) herein.

(4) guarantee that each low-income customer will pay a rate that is either equal to or less than the fixed basic service rate charged by the low-income customer’s electric distribution company for the same period of time. For each month said low-income customer is enrolled with a supplier, any losses as compared to fixed basic service shall be refunded by the supplier to the low-income customer on a rolling quarterly basis. Each electric supplier will report the number and amounts of such rebates to the department and the attorney general on an annual basis. Excessive use of rebates, as determined by the department and the attorney general, will be presumptive evidence of a supplier’s lack of good faith compliance with the conditions of licensure.

(d) Each electric distribution company who bills on behalf of a supplier pursuant to section 1D shall include the following information on the first page of each bill for each residential customer receiving electric generation service from a supplier:

(i)the electric generation service rate;

(ii)the term and expiration date of such rate;

(iii)the cancellation fee, if applicable;

(iv)notification that such rate is variable, if applicable;

(v)the fixed basic service rate for the same period;

(vi)the term and expiration date of the fixed basic service rate;

(vii)the dollar amount that would have been billed for the electric generation service component had the residential retail customer been receiving fixed basic service; and

(viii)an electronic link or Internet web site address to the department’s website, energyswitchma.gov (or any successor website), and a toll-free telephone number and other information necessary to enable the residential retail customer to obtain further information or make the switch to another supplier or to basic service.

(ix)Following the effective date of the regulations promulgated pursuant to this section, if a residential retail customer is enrolled in automatic electronic bill payments and does not receive a bill through United States mail, the electric distribution company shall send the customer a link to such customer's bill in electronic mail with confirmation of bill payment.

(x)An electric distribution company that implements the provision of the billing information requirements of (i) through (ix) above shall be entitled to recover from electric suppliers all reasonable costs for such implementation.

(e) Each electric distribution company shall submit a report to the department and to the attorney general semi-annually that details the numbers of low-income customers and all other residential retail customers, by supplier, for each zip code in the electric distribution company’s service territory. This report shall be published on the department’s website, energyswitch.gov (or any successor website).

(f) Where it would be clear to a reasonable person that a consumer is unable to understand the substance of a transaction conducted in English due to a language barrier, the supplier’s agent must cease the solicitation until an agent fluent in the native language of the customer is present and provides the sales presentation, in its entirety, in the customer’s native language. Whenever a solicitation occurs in a native language other than English, the following is required: (1) the supplier must provide all customer-facing sales and marketing materials, including, but not limited to, brochures, webpages, fliers, and mailings in the native language of the customer; (2) the supplier must provide all terms and conditions, including the sales contract and term sheet, in the native language of the customer; and (3) that any third-party verification call is conducted in the native language of the customer.

As a condition of licensure, the supplier must provide evidence that it can comply with the above requirement by submitting to the department, on an annual basis, the following: (1) evidence sufficient to demonstrate that the supplier employs agents fluent in all languages common to the areas in which the supplier markets; (2) all sales and marketing materials, including but not limited to, brochures, webpages, fliers, and mailings in all languages common to the areas in which the supplier markets; (3) all terms and conditions, including the sales contract and term sheet, in all languages common to the areas in which the supplier markets; and (4) evidence sufficient to demonstrate that third-party verification vendors are able to conduct the third-party verification call in all languages common to the areas in which the supplier markets.

The attorney general is hereby authorized to bring an action under section 4 of chapter 93A to enforce the consumer protection provisions of this subsection and to obtain restitution, civil penalties, injunctive relief and any other relief awarded pursuant to said chapter 93A. In addition, any violation of this subsection shall be penalized pursuant to subsection 7 of section 1F, at no less than $5,000 per day per violation. Any supplier found by the department, or a court in an action made pursuant to chapter 93A, to have violated this subsection ten or more times in a contiguous twelve-month period shall forfeit any license issued pursuant to section 1F, chapter 164.

(g) Any violation of the conditions of licensure enumerated in this section shall be penalized pursuant to subsection 7 of section 1F, at no less than $1,000 per violation per day. In addition, the attorney general is hereby authorized to bring an action under section 4 of chapter 93A to enforce the consumer protection provisions of this section and to obtain restitution, civil penalties, injunctive relief and any other relief awarded pursuant to said chapter 93A. Impersonating an employee of a distribution company or misrepresenting the business relationship between the supplier and the distribution company shall be punishable by a fine of not less than $1,000 per incident, in addition to any other remedies that may be otherwise applicable under this chapter or chapter 93A.

(h) No less than quarterly, the department shall publish each supplier’s complaint data, sourced from complaints made to the department as well as those made to the attorney general and the distribution companies, as provided to the department annually, on the department’s website, energyswitchma.gov (or any successor website). Such complaint data shall be and shall include, but not be limited to, the total number of complaints received regarding the supplier, the number of complaints received for misleading or false marketing, the number of complaints for unauthorized switching, the number of complaints for Do Not Call list violations, and the number of complaints for aggressive marketing;

(i) The department shall promulgate rules and regulations for the implementation of this section on or before January 1, 2019.

(j) This section shall not apply to a supplier in the course of providing generation services pursuant to sections 134, 136 and 137 of chapter 164.