Section Puc 2004.03 - Price Disclosure(a) Each registered CEPS shall input into a shopping comparison website, maintained by the commission, information regarding the CEPS's standard fixed and variable pricing policies, charges, and key terms for residential and small commercial customers, as follows: (1) Following its initial registration, the CEPS shall be provided a secure link to the shopping comparison website through which it shall input the required information prior to selling or offering by any means to sell electricity to any customer; and(2) The required information shall be updated whenever it changes, but no less frequently than once per month, as required under RSA 374-F:4-b, II.(b) A CEPS shall include the following on both its website and in its terms of service for a variable price offer to residential and small commercial customers: (1) A clear statement that the variable price being offered is based on market prices or some other identified price index, if applicable;(2) If the variable price being offered is not based on market prices or some other price index as described in (1) above, a clear statement that the variable price being offered is not based on market prices or some other identified price index;(3) A general description of the components used in determining the variable price and the frequency of variation;(4) Unless the variable rate product includes a mechanism for providing advance notice of the variable rate to the customer, a statement that the customer will not know what price the customer will pay for electricity used until the bill is issued;(5) A statement that it may take one or more billing cycles for a price variation to become effective;(6) The maximum and minimum monthly price, stated separately, that a similarly situated retail customer in New Hampshire would have paid over the preceding 12 month period;(7) Any applicable price cap;(8) Any applicable price floor; and(9) The website address where the current publicly available price per kWh required in (c) below is identified.(c) A CEPS charging a variable price or variable prices shall maintain a publicly available web site where residential and small commercial customers may readily obtain the applicable variable price per kWh no less than 5 calendar days in advance of the effective date of the price.(d) Residential and small commercial customers shall be notified at least 30 days prior to the effective date of any increase in a variable price projected to increase by 25 percent or more per kilowatt-hour using the customer's preferred form of communication.(e) The notice required pursuant to (d) above shall confirm that the actual variable price per kWh shall be available on the CEPS website no less than 5 days in advance of the effective date of the price increase.(f) Residential and small commercial customers shall be notified no less than 45 days and no more than 60 days prior to the effective date of any change in the terms or structure of a variable price using the customer's preferred form of communication.(g) A CEPS shall include the following on both its website and in its terms of service for a fixed price contract offer to residential and small commercial customers: (1) The fixed price per kWh the customer will be charged;(2) The average monthly price for service a residential customer will be charged when the fixed price includes charges in addition to the fixed price per kWh in (1) above, assuming a monthly usage of: (3) The average monthly price for service a small commercial customer will be charged when the fixed price includes charges in addition to the fixed price per kWh in (1) above, assuming a monthly usage of: (4) The term of the fixed price contract stated in:b. The effective ending meter read month;(5) A description of the customer's options at the end of the term and of how the customer may exercise those options; and(6) Any fees payable to the CEPS for early termination by the customer.(h) When a fixed price contract offer includes charges based on demand, the terms of service shall include the average price per kW of demand, or other billing determinants for demand charges, if other than a fixed rate per kW.(i) If the energy charge for the proposed service is based on determinants other than a fixed rate per kWh, such as time-of-use or real time rates, all applicable billing determinants, broken down by time-of-use, and a historic average price per kWh for a typical load profile, described by at least hour of day and day of week, covering an identified 12 month historical period ending within one year and one month of the date of the disclosure.(j) No variable price contract with a CEPS shall bind a residential or small commercial customer for a period longer than a one-month billing cycle or impose a fee for termination of the contract by a residential or small commercial customer, except if and to the extent that any such fee: (1) recoups the cost of a device or other equipment provided to the customer without charge as an incentive for selecting the CEPS; or(2) is part of a power purchase agreement for some or all of the electrical output from a specific generator source.(k) CEPS shall permit residential and small commercial customers to terminate a contract for service at any time, and without requiring the customer or the customer representative to provide advance notice to the CEPS, by contracting with another CEPS, by switching to utility default energy service, or by contacting the CEPS through the following means of communication: (3) Written correspondence sent by U.S. mail; or(4) Electronic on-line communication options provided by the CEPS.(l) A CEPS shall retain records of the written notices provided to customers regarding the nature of its variable rate contract pricing terms for a period of not less than 2 years and shall make such records available to the commission upon request by the commission.N.H. Admin. Code § Puc 2004.03
#7758, eff 9-4-02; ss by #9774-A, eff 8-26-10
Amended by Volume XXXVII Number 37, Filed September 14, 2017, Proposed by #12372, Effective 11/1/2017, Expires 11/1/2027.