Press Release

PUC Approves Temporary Waiver of Regulation for ‘Instant Connect’ Confirmation Letters

Published on 7/21/2016

Filed under: Electric

HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) today approved a Final Order providing electric distribution companies (EDCs) with a three-year waiver of regulations related to confirmation letters sent to customers requesting an “instant connect.”  An instant connect allows a customer who is initiating new service to enroll with an electric generation supplier (EGS) on the first day of his/her utility service without having to first enroll in default service provided by an EDC.

The PUC’s Office of Competitive Market Oversight (OCMO) proposed a three-year waiver in order to provide adequate time to observe EDCs’ implementation of “seamless moves” and instant connects. 

The Commission today voted 4-0 to adopt the Final Order – following a public comment period that accompanied a May 2016 Tentative Order on this subject.

As part of the Commission’s Retail Markets Investigation, EDCs were required to submit implementation plans to offer seamless moves and instant connects to customers. A seamless move is the ability of a customer enrolled with an EGS to move to a new location and maintain supply service with the same EGS without interruption.

Further assessment by OCMO revealed a potential issue related to EDCs’ confirmation letters sent to customers requesting instant connects.  Current regulations call for EDCs to send confirmation letters to the new location one day after the request by the customer, but in some instances, the customer may not yet occupy the new location.  OCMO proposed a three-year waiver of a provision of Commission regulations to instead allow letters to be sent by the end of the next business day after the start of service at the new location.

All major EDCs have plans approved by the Commission and are expected to implement seamless moves and instant connects by Nov. 30, 2016.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission balances the needs of consumers and utilities; ensures safe and reliable utility service at reasonable rates; protects the public interest; educates consumers to make independent and informed utility choices; furthers economic development; and fosters new technologies and competitive markets in an environmentally sound manner.

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Docket No.: I-2011-2237952

Contact:

• Nils Hagen-Frederiksen
  Press Secretary
  717-418-2701
  nhagen-fre@pa.gov