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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2019 - 2020
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | November 20, 2019 12:40 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Carl Walker Metzgar |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Energy Consumer Choice Enhancement Act |
| In the near future, I will introduce the Energy Consumer Choice Enhancement Act (ECCEA), which will provide electric and natural gas energy customers with additional tools to choose the products and services they want from our competitive energy market. There are three components to the ECCEA: The first will provide transparency by allowing the customer to receive a bill directly from their chosen supplier rather than through an intermediary. Second, consumers should be able to easily compare the prices of energy, just as they currently can in other purchasing decisions. Cost allocation or “unbundling” will allow this by requiring that electric and natural gas companies identify all costs associated with providing default energy supply to customers and appropriately allocate the costs between supply and distribution rates. This will enable the energy consumer to make better informed decisions on choosing an energy supplier. The cost allocation issue addressed here will provide consumers with a true “apples to apples” comparison of default service commodity rates. Last, this legislation will provide the Public Utility Commission the authority to authorize additional forms of identification that customers may use to select the energy suppliers of their choice. Just as you can when buying anything from a cup of coffee to a new car, you should be able to make purchases with information you have in your wallet. Currently, the consumer needs the account number from their energy bill to change suppliers, which may not be easily accessible for them at the time they are looking to switch. There is no reason why a government-issued identification or other acceptable form of identification approved by the PUC may be used by a customer to choose the energy supplier of his or her preference. Thank you for your kind consideration of cosponsoring the Energy Consumer Choice Enhancement Act. |
Introduced as HB2555