AN ACT ESTABLISHING A RESIDENTIAL ELECTRIC AND GAS CUSTOMER DISCOUNT RATE.

AN ACT ESTABLISHING A RESIDENTIAL ELECTRIC AND GAS CUSTOMER DISCOUNT RATE.

Under this bill, the Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) must require gas and electric companies to provide a rate discount to their low-income residential customers. The cost of the discounts must be included in the rates each company charges its other customers. The bill does not specify the level of the discounts. Each company must conduct substantial outreach efforts to make the discount available to eligible customers and report to DPUC, at least annually, on those activities and their results. Each company must guarantee payment to the generation supplier for all power sold to low-income customers at the discounted rates. (The bill does not have a parallel provision for wholesale gas suppliers. ) The bill bars the companies from imposing certain charges in connection with the discounts.

The bill requires DPUC to adopt implementing regulations, including requiring utility companies to produce information for their consumers about available rebates, discounts, credits, and other cost-saving mechanisms that can help them lower their monthly utility bills. The information can be provided by mailings or other approved methods. It also requires DPUC to report on the program to the Energy and Technology Committee by January 1, 2009.

Under the bill, people are eligible for the discount upon verification that they receive means-tested public benefits that provide cash, housing, food, or medical care. These include Transitional Assistance for Needy Families; Supplemental Security Income; emergency assistance to the elderly, disabled, and children; Food Stamps; public housing; federally or state-subsidized housing; the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program (CEAP); veterans' benefits; and similar benefits. DPUC must make information available to the companies regarding the eligibility standards for the public benefit programs.

The discounts are also available to customers who receive verification of their eligibility for CEAP or its successor program, so long as the program's income eligibility ceiling is no more than 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL). The bill “directs” DPUC to raise the income limit for the discount program from 175% to 200% of the poverty level. In a program year when the maximum eligibility for the Federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (the federal counterpart to CEAP) or its successor program exceeds 200% of the FPL, a household that is income-eligible for CEAP is eligible for the discount. Since the bill makes people who receive or are eligible for CEAP eligible for the discount, it appears the last provision would make a household whose assets make them ineligible for CEAP eligible for the discount under these circumstances.

A customer eligible for the discount rate must receive it on demand and may return to standard offer service at any time including from default service. (By law, electric companies must provide standard offer service to small and medium size customers who do not choose a competitive supplier; “default service” appears to refer to the back-up service that electric companies must provide to customers who choose a competitive supplier if their supplier fails to provide service. )

An existing residential customer eligible for the low-income discount on the first day of retail access, who orders service for the first time from a utility company, must be offered discounted rates by such company. A residential customer eligible for the low-income discount receiving standard offer service must be allowed to receive discounted rates upon moving within a utility company's service territory.

The bill requires utility companies to periodically notify all customers of the availability of the discount rates and standard offer service and how to obtain them.

The bill bars a utility company from charging a residential customer for initiating or terminating the discount rates, default service, or standard offer service when the request is made after a regular meter reading has occurred and the customer has received the results of the reading. A utility company may impose a reasonable charge, set by DPUC through the regulations, for initiating or terminating low-income discount rates, default service, or standard offer service when the customer does not make such a request between receiving the meter results and the next regularly scheduled meter reading. For these purposes, a regular meter reading of every residential account must be conducted at least once every two months. The utilities cannot impose a charge when the initiation or termination is involuntary on the customer's part.

The bill requires DPUC to report to the Energy and Technology Committee on the discount program by January 1, 2009. The report must address the cost and benefits of expanding eligibility for the discount rates to any low-income customer who is eligible for any means-tested public benefit for which eligibility does not exceed 175% of the FPL (although the bill appears to set the eligibility at this level. ) DPUC must include any legislative recommendations necessary to implement the bill. DPUC must also make recommendations to the legislature on the continuation or modification of the discount. DPUC must, in its recommendations, consider whether or not to modify the discount by establishing a sliding scale low-income discount program.

Yea

Nay

(03/11/2008)