Draft Annual Report Says "Overpayment" [sic} To Retail Suppliers Has "Slightly Moderated" In 2022, "But Continues To Be Particularly Harmful To Communities Of Color"

March 8, 2023

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

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The Connecticut PURA has posted a draft annual report on electric competition to the General Assembly for 2022

PURA will consider a final report next week

Among other things, the report includes a review of supplier billed rates for 2022 and aggregation of such data

As previously reported, various analyses of supplier rates (over various periods including 2022) have been filed by various parties in PURA's ongoing review of whether suppliers' rates are overpriced or harmful. See our prior stories for more

The draft PURA legislative report includes the following table concerning default service and suppliers rates for 2022

With respect to 2022, the draft PURA legislative report says, "The data indicates that during the first half of 2022, approximately 26% of Eversource residential customers and almost 36% of UI residential customers enrolled with a supplier paid greater than the Standard Service rate for their generation supply. For the first half of 2022, the median supplier rate in the Eversource territory was $0.09410 per kWh (compared to Standard Service rate of $0.11484 per kWh) and the median supplier rate in the UI territory was $0.09790 per kWh (compared to Standard Service rate of $0.10673 per kWh)."

The draft legislative report says, "The percentage of supplier customers paying more than Standard Service decreased in the second half of 2022 for Eversource customers, with approximately 24% enrolled with suppliers paying more than Standard Service. The number of UI customers enrolled with a supplier increased slightly, with more than 38% of UI’s customers enrolled with a supplier paying more than Standard Service. During the second half of 2022, the median supplier rate in the Eversource territory was $0.09910 per kWh, compared to a Standard Service rate of $0.12050 per kWh; in the UI territory, the median supplier rate was $0.10190 per kWh, compared to a Standard Service rate of $0.10620 per kWh."

The draft legislative report says, "The Authority is unable to determine a net cost of this overpayment [sic] because the data provided in Docket No. 06-10-22 does not include individual customer usage however, assuming an average customer uses 750 kWh per month, for the first half of 2022 an average customer in Eversource territory would have paid $49.19 less to a supplier than to standard service during the six-month period (approximately $8.20 less per month), and in the UI territory an average customer would have paid approximately $7.40 less to a supplier than to standard service during the six-month period (approximately $1.23 less per month). For the second half of 2022, the average Eversource customer would have paid $40.12 less to a supplier during the six-month period (approximately $6.69 less per month). The average UI customer would have paid $17.16 more to a supplier during the six-month period (approximately $2.86 more per month)."

The draft legislative report says, "This residential overpayment has slightly moderated from 2021 but continues to be particularly harmful to communities of color."

The draft legislative report says, "Interrogatory EOE-1 requested that suppliers indicate rates charged each month by zip code. Using census data indicating percentage of racial population by zip code, an examination of the data provided by suppliers in response to EOE-1 shows that communities of color being served by suppliers in 2022 fared worse than the general population. Approximately 34% of the population in communities of color payed [sic] higher rates to suppliers, compared to approximately 25% for the remaining communities. Additionally, one supplier charged every customer in the affected zip codes rates higher than standard service for all of 2022, and three other suppliers charged more than 79% of affected zip codes rates higher than standard service for all of 2022. Therefore, the perils of suppliers interacting with vulnerable communities still remains a concern."

The draft legislative report notes complaints against suppliers were 155 in 2022, versus 149 in 2021

"Calendar year 2022 saw supplier complaints increase by 4%. This inconsequential amount may indicate that EOE’s continuing investigations into the Connecticut market may be dissuading bad actors from participating in the Connecticut market. Ensuring residential customers monitor the Supply Summary on their bill remains an ongoing effort by EOE," the draft report says

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