SUMMARY: This proceeding is designed to reduce the number of residential customer disconnections and to improve reconnection processes for disconnected customers. The goal of the Commission is to develope a comprehensive set of policies and rules to reduce the statewide level of gas and electric service disconnections for nonpayment by residential customers. Customers’ access to electric and gas service is critical to economic and social stability and well-being. Even after a customer has paid off an overdue balance, the reconnection process, particularly for gas service, can be time-consuming and costly, and few rules govern it. Unfortunately, the rates of customer disconnections have been rising since the Commission issued its last Decision.
UCAN’s POSITION: UCAN advocated and supported many customer protections that were incorporated into the Phase I Decision. UCAN, along with other Intervenors, successfully championed: a cap on disconnections based upon 2017 recorded levels per utility; extended the extreme weather conditions look-ahead from 24 to 72 hours; and expanded the definition of vulnerable customers to include any household on medical baseline or life support and for customers age 65+. Moreover, UCAN’s position also addressed Decision provisions such as: additional protections by requiring the large investor owned utilities (IOUs) to enroll eligible customers in all applicable benefit programs administered by the IOUs; requiring the IOUs to offer payment plans of 12-month periods, and prohibiting disconnections if there is a Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) pledge. This decision prohibits the IOUs from requiring an establishment of service deposit or reestablishment of service deposit, as deposits can adversely impact a household’s ability to meet its financial obligations. Additionally, utilities are precluded from charging customers reconnection fees, requires the IOUs to improve their disconnection notices so that customers are better informed that they are in danger of having their utilities disconnected, and are provided information concerning the availability of financial programs which may be available to assist them. To evaluate ways of making monthly utility bills manageable, this decision creates a separate rate-setting phase of this proceeding to evaluate the percentage of income payment plan (PIPP) which was originally set forth in the proposed decision. Finally, this decision mandates the creation of an enforcement program to ensure that the IOUs are complying with the requirements of this decision.