PUC Staff Says Supplier Consolidated Billing Should Not Be Expanded At This Time, Cites "Poor Participation" Among Suppliers

November 8, 2021

Email This Story
Copyright 2010-21 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

The following story is brought free of charge to readers by EC Infosystems, the exclusive EDI provider of EnergyChoiceMatters.com

Staff of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio have recommended in a report on a supplier consolidated billing (SCB) pilot at AEP Ohio that SCB should not be expanded at this time, as Staff cited, "poor participation of the eligible providers and concerns with the methods of customer enrollment[.]"

As previously reported, a settlement in an AEP Ohio default service proceeding provided for the creation of an SCB pilot. The pilot was limited to only five specific retail suppliers, and was capped at 20,000 customers per supplier. Under the pilot, suppliers purchased AEP Ohio distribution charge receivables without recourse.

Staff reported that although five suppliers were approved as participants in the AEP Ohio supplier consolidated billing pilot, only two suppliers engaged with AEP Ohio to begin the pilot: Constellation and Direct Energy. Those same two suppliers are also the only ones that completed a bill format proceeding in order to proceed with appropriately billing customers.

"However, only one of the suppliers actively participated in the pilot program and enrolled customers," Staff said

"With an initial expectation that five suppliers with up to 20,000 customers each would be participating in the pilot, the results today are less than enthusiastic. Only one supplier has participated in the program and did not enroll its first customers until July of 2020," Staff said

Staff reported that the number of cumulative customer participants billed under SCB was 626 as of September 2021, and has only been growing by approximately 60 customers per month over the past few months.

Staff said that AEP reported that as of September 2021 there were 822 requests by participating suppliers to "switch or changed" to SCB Pilot; 722 scheduled switch/change; 134 drops/rejection to the switch/change.

"While AEP Ohio did not report any customer complaints related directly to the SCB Pilot, the PUCO did find a few contacts related to SCB. The PUCO received an inquiry from a customer specific to their enrollment" Staff said

"Staff investigated the issue and found that customers were enrolled in the SCB Pilot by the participating supplier upon contract renewal. The customers may not have been properly informed of the changes to the terms and conditions of their contracts. As a result of this complaint, the participating supplier agreed to conduct an investigation into how customers were switched to SCB and also started reaching out to the customers in question to obtain their affirmative consent for SCB in October 2021. Staff is waiting on the results of the outreach," Staff said

"Based on the poor participation of the eligible providers and concerns with the methods of customer enrollment, Staff does not believe that the SCB Pilot should be expanded at this time in neither customer count nor providers," Staff said

Staff said that if the Commission were to continue the SCB Pilot program, Staff recommends that it be for a defined period of time and that another review be conducted at the conclusion of the program to review the results and make a recommendation as to whether or not to continue the program.

Staff noted that the cost to build the pilot program was $2 million, which was shared between AEP Ohio and the five approved suppliers. AEP Ohio's portion of the costs of implementation will be borne by ratepayers.

"Any expansion of the SCB Pilot could create additional costs," Staff said

ADVERTISEMENT
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
• NEW! -- Operations Manager -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Marketing Manager
• NEW! -- PJM Program Manager
• NEW! -- Sr. Margin Optimization Analyst - Retail Energy -- Houston
• NEW! -- Pricing Analyst -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Senior Sales Executive -- Retail Supplier
• NEW! -- Power Analyst
• NEW! -- Financial Analyst
• NEW! -- Environmental Commodity Analyst
• NEW! -- Gas Analyst
• Energy Pricing Analyst -- Retail Supplier
• Senior Account Operations Analyst -- Retail Supplier
• Energy Procurement Manager

HOME

Copyright 2010-21 Energy Choice Matters.  If you wish to share this story, please email or post the website link; unauthorized copying, retransmission, or republication prohibited.