Update:  Earlier this month, the PUCO released draft administrative rules updating Chapters 4901:1-21 and 4901:1-24, which include the PUCO’s CRES provider and certification rules. Recall that CRES includes the services provided by an electric services company, retail electric generation providers, power marketers, power brokers, aggregators, and governmental aggregators. According, the newly proposed revisions and additions create more stringent requirements for CRES providers which are beneficial for customers. The PUCO is accepting initial public comments on those rules through January 7, 2013, and reply comments through February 6, 2013. Below is a brief summary of the proposed changes.

4901:1-21 CRES Providers

The CRES provider rule includes, among other items, the following proposed changes:

Purpose and scope.

• Allows a governmental aggregator to choose to have a CRES provider perform functions as the governmental aggregator’s agent.

General provisions.

• Requires CRES providers to include in their application the name, telephone number, and email address of a contact person who will respond to PUCO concerns pertaining to consumer complaints. If any of this information changes, the CRES providers must update the PUCO within thirty days.

Marketing and solicitation.

• Requires that a CRES provider’s promotional and advertising material that is targeted for residential and small commercial customers be provided to the PUCO within three business days, rather than five calendars days, of a request by the PUCO or PUCO Staff.
• Requires CRES providers to perform criminal background checks on all employees and agents engaged in door-to-door marketing and enrollment.

Customer enrollment.

• Requires that when enrolled by direct solicitation, customers must be advised that they are allowed seven business days, rather than a seven day period, to rescind the contract and the customer now must contact the electric utility to rescind the contract.
• Requires CRES providers conducting door-to-door contract sales solicitation to provide for an independent third-party verification to ensure the validity of the enrollment prior to submission to the EDU.
• Telephonic enrollment requires a CRES provider to make a date and time stamped audio recording including “A verbal statement and the customer’s acknowledgement that the CRES provider is not the customer’s current electric utility company.” It also requires a verbal statement and the customer’s acceptance of the principal terms and condition of “Whether or not the CRES provider offers budget billing for the generation portion of the bill.
• Following telephonic enrollment, CRES providers are required within one business day, rather than one calendar day, to send the customer a written contract with the terms and conditions summarized in the telephone call.
• Requires CRES providers to obtain proof and consent in instances where the customer and CRES provider agree to a material change to an existing contract.
• Requires that in customer enrollment, if the EDU rejects a customer from enrollment, the CRES provider must notify the customer within three business days of the rejection or delay and the reason.

Environmental disclosure

• Requires CRES providers to incorporate into their annual and quarterly environmental disclosures whether the CRES provider complied with the renewable energy resource benchmark under the state’s alternative energy portfolio standard requirements.

Contract administration.

• Requires CRES providers to provide copies to PUCO Staff within three business days of request, rather than five calendar days, in their administration of residential and small commercial contracts.

Contract disclosure.

• Requires all CRES provider contracts with residential and small commercial customers to include the amount of any other recurring or nonrecurring CRES provider charges and a statement that the customer will incur additional service and delivery charges from the electric utility.
• Requires that if due to a change in market conditions, the CRES provider wishes to lower the price per kWh charged to the customer (residential and small commercial) under an existing contract, it may do so without consent provided there are no other changes to the terms and conditions of the contract.

4901:1-24 Certification of CRES Providers

The certification of CRES providers rule includes, among other items, the following proposed changes:

Application content.

• Requires that retail electric generation providers and power marketers include proof of an Ohio office and an employee in Ohio in an application. The same requirement applies to aggregators and power brokers.

Material change to business operations.

• Allows the PUCO to suspend, rescind, or conditionally rescind a CRES provider’s certificate in order “to provide reasonable financial assurances sufficient to protect the EDU and the regulated sales service customers from default.”

Transfer or abandonment of a certificate.

• Requires a CRES provider’s notice to customers and OCC to abandon service to “indicate the CRES provider’s intent to fulfill or assign customer contracts, including the effective date of such assignment, the effective date it will cease to provide service, and should identify the PUCO toll-free number as well as the number through which hearing and speech impaired customers may contact the PUCO.
• Also, CRES providers must provide notice of abandonment to its existing customers by separate message that is mailed or otherwise directly delivered to the customer or by notice on customer billing statements.

Financial security.

• Provides that pursuant to a tariff filed with the PUCO, an EDU may require a CRES provider to issue and maintain a financial instrument with the EDU to protect the EDU in the event that the CRES provider fails to deliver contracts retail generation service to a customer for which the EDU supplied to the customer in its capacity as default supplier.

The PUCO has asked all interested persons to file comments to the proposed rule changes by January 7, 2013, with replies to those comments due by February 6, 2013. OMAEG counsel is working with John Seryak of Go Sustainable Energy to further determine whether there are provisions in which the OMAEG should provide comments.