Amendment 8

Amendment ID: S2545-8-R1

Redraft Amendment 8

Increasing Consumer Protections in the Electric Competitive Supply Market

Messrs. Welch and Lewis, Ms. Gobi and Mr. Pacheco move that the proposed new draft be amended by inserting before section 1 the following section:-

“SECTION A1. The first paragraph of subsection (a) of 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 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 chapter 164, 164A, 164B, 165, or 166."; and by inserting after section 15 the following section:-

“SECTION 15A. Chapter 164 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 1K the following section:-

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

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

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

(b) No supplier or entity acting on the supplier’s behalf shall:

(1) 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 2 months prior to the end of the electricity supply agreement’s stated term unless the rate provided for the extended term is equal to or less than the rate applied to the stated terms; or

(2) charge a cancellation fee of greater than $50 to a residential retail customer.

(1) not 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: provided, however, that the department shall publish the list on the department’s website, energyswitchma.gov or a successor website;

(2) not 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; provided, however, that such data shall include the geographic location and fuel type of each such renewable energy certificate, the total cost of each renewable energy certificate and whether each certificate is RPS Class I eligible pursuant to section 11F of chapter 25A; and provided further, that the department shall publish such information on its website, energyswitchma.gov or a 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); and

(4) guarantee that each low-income customer shall 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.

(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;

(viii)an electronic link or internet web site address to the department’s website, energyswitchma.gov or a 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; and

(ix)if a residential retail customer is enrolled in automatic electronic bill payments and does not receive a bill through United States mail, a link to the customer's bill in electronic mail with confirmation of bill payment.

An electric distribution company that implements the billing information requirements of this subsection may 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 a successor website.

(f) A violation of the conditions of licensure under this section shall be punished pursuant according to subsection (7) of section 1F of not less than $1,000 per violation per day. In addition, t he attorney general may 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.

(g) Not less than quarterly, the department shall publish each supplier’s complaint data, sourced from complaints made to the department and those made to the attorney general and the distribution companies, as provided to the department annually, on the department’s website, energyswitchma.gov or a successor website. The complaint data 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.

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

by adding the following section:-

"SECTION 33. Section 1L of chapter 164 of the General Laws shall take effect on January 1, 2019; provided, however, that the department shall promulgate regulations to implement said section 1L of said chapter 164 not later than January 1, 2019.”