Default Service in Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has provided guidance to electric utilities and electric generation suppliers (EGSs) as to how to handle situations where a residential customer has entered into a contract with an EGS but subsequently enrolls in a utility-sponsored customer assistance program (CAP), the latter of which usually calls for a customer to take standard offer service (SOS) from the utility.

The commission deemed it reasonable to allow any CAP customer holding a fixed-term contract with an EGS to continue receiving service from the EGS for the duration of the agreement or until the contract is otherwise terminated, whichever comes first. Thereafter, the customer is to be transferred to the utility’s SOS rate plan. Should a CAP customer be subject to an EGS contract that is on a month-to-month basis rather than a firm, longer-term basis, the EGS must act to return the customer to the utility’s default service as soon as practicable, but in no case can the EGS take longer than 120 days after the customer’s CAP enrollment to switch the customer back to the utility.

To assure transparency and compliance with associated timelines, the commission ordered the utilities to notify all EGSs at least once a month about new CAP customers that also are EGS subscribers, with the EGSs then required to process the customer’s return to utility supply service accordingly. The commission noted that the CAP/SOS rules had been put in place because EGSs cannot always guarantee that their prices will be at or below prevailing market rates.

The commission said it would be improper to permit consumers to receive bill paying assistance from a utility when the customer is paying above-market prices to an EGS. (P-2016-2526627)