Current through all regulations passed and filed through March 18, 2024
Each electric utility shall provide to new customers, upon
application for service, and existing customers upon request, a written summary
of their rights and obligations under this chapter. This written summary shall
also be prominently posted on the electric utility's website. The summary shall
be in clear and understandable language. Each electric utility shall submit the
summary or amendments thereto to the chief of the reliability and service
analysis division for review at least sixty calendar days prior to mailing the
summary to its customers. For purposes of this rule "new customer" means a
customer who opens a new account and has not received the latest version of the
customer rights summary. The summary shall include, but not be limited to, the
following:
(A) The electric utility
and commission procedures for complaints, which shall include:
(1) How complaints are made to the electric
utility, including a local or toll free number, an address and a website, if
applicable.
(2) A statement that:
"If your complaint is not resolved after you have called (your
electric utility), or for general utility information, residential and business
customers may contact the public utilities commission of Ohio (PUCO) for
assistance at 1-800-686-7826 (toll free) from eight a.m. to five p.m. weekdays,
or at http://www.puco.ohio.gov.
Hearing or speech impaired customers may contact the PUCO via 7-1-1 (Ohio relay
service)."
"The Ohio consumers' counsel (OCC) represents residential
utility customers in matters before the PUCO. The OCC can be contacted at
1-877-742-5622 (toll free) from eight a.m. to five p.m. weekdays, or at
http://www.pickocc.org."
(B) Customer rights and
responsibilities, which shall include:
(1) A
list of customer rights and obligations relating to installation of service,
payment of bills, disconnection and reconnection of service, and meter
testing.
(2) Information detailing
the customer's responsibility to notify the electric utility of material
changes in the customer's equipment or usage within the time reasonably
necessary to permit the electric utility to provide necessary facilities and
acquire additional power supply, if needed. The summary shall provide examples
of such changes in customer equipment and usage.
(3) A description of the following customer
rights:
(a) The circumstances under which the
electric utility may demand and/or hold security deposits.
(b) The circumstances under which customers
may obtain deferred payment plans and low-income assistance plans, and
information concerning those plans.
(4) The toll-free telephone number(s) for the
"one-call" or "call-before-you-dig" protection service(s) to locate underground
utility facilities.
(5) An
explanation of what each applicant must do to receive service from that
electric utility.
(6) Information
explaining when a customer will be charged for the cost of modifying service,
installing a meter, and/or providing facilities necessary to serve that
customer.
(C) A statement
notifying customers that, when electric utility employee(s) or agent(s) seek
access to the customer's and/or landlord's premises, the customer or landlord
may request the employee/agent to show photo identification and to state the
reason for the visit.
(D) A
statement concerning the availability of rate information, which shall include:
(1) A statement that the electric utility's
rates and tariffs are available for review at the electric utility's office, on
the electric utility's website, and on the commission's website, or the
customer can request a copy be sent to them.
(2) A statement that, upon inquiry, the electric utility will inform customers about
alternative rates and service options and how to obtain details about the
programs.
(E) A statement that customers may review a
copy of the electric service and safety standards on the commission's website
or obtain a copy from the commission upon request.
(F) Information on privacy rights, which
shall include:
(1) A statement that the
electric utility is prohibited from disclosing a customer's account number
without the customer's written consent or electronic authorization or without a
court or commission order, except for the following purposes:
(a) The electric utility's collections and/or
credit reporting.
(b) Participation
in the home energy assistance program, the emergency home energy assistance
program, and programs funded by the universal service fund, such as the
percentage of income payment plan programs.
(c) Governmental aggregation.
(2) A statement that the electric
utility is prohibited from disclosing a customer's social security number
without the customer's written consent or without a court order, except for the
following purposes:
(a) The electric utility's
consumer credit evaluation.
(b) The
electric utility's or competitive retail electric service (CRES) provider's
collections and/or credit reporting.
(c) Participation in the home energy
assistance program, the emergency home energy assistance program, and programs
funded by the universal service fund, such as the percentage of income payment
plan programs.
(3) A
statement that the electric utility shall not disclose customer energy usage
data that is more granular than the monthly historical consumption data,
provided on the customer pre-enrollment list pursuant to paragraph (E) of rule
4901:1-10-29
of the Administrative Code, without the customer's written consent
or electronic authorization or without a court or
commission order.
(4) A statement
that customers have the right to request up to twenty-four months of their
usage history, payment history, and detailed consumption data, if available,
and time differentiated price data, if applicable, from the electric utility
without charge.
(5) A statement
that customers have the right to prohibit the electric utility from including
their names on mass customer lists made available to CRES providers.
(6) A statement that staff is not prohibited
from accessing records or business activities that would allow it to
effectively monitor customer calls to the electric utility's call
center.
(G) A statement
that customers have the right to obtain, from their electric utility, a list of
available CRES providers, that are actively seeking residential customers in
its service territory and their phone numbers.
(H) A statement that customers returning to
the electric utility's standard offer service due to default, abandonment,
slamming, or certification rescission of a CRES provider will not be liable for
any costs associated with the switch.
(I) Information concerning notice of a change
in the customer's supplier of electric service.
(1) A statement that, if a change in a
residential or small commercial customer's electric services company is
initiated, the electric utility is required to send the customer a notice
confirming the change.
(2) A
statement that the customer has a right to cancel any change in its supplier of
electric service within seven calendar days after the notice has been sent by
calling the electric utility at the telephone number on the notice.
(J) Information explaining the
procedures customers must follow if they believe their generation and/or
transmission service has been switched without their consent. This explanation
shall include, at a minimum, the following information:
(1) If a customer participates in the
percentage of income payment plan or in a governmental aggregation, the
customer's supplier of generation and/or transmission services appearing on the
customer's bill may be a company other than the electric utility.
(2) If the customer's electric bill reflects
a supplier of electric service not chosen by the customer, the customer should
call the commission to initiate a slamming investigation.
(3) If the staff determines that the
customer's service was changed without proper authorization:
(a) The customer will be switched back to the
customer's previous supplier of electric service without charge to the
customer.
(b) The customer's
account will be credited for any switching fees resulting from the customer
being switched without proper authorization.
(c) The customer will be credited or
reimbursed for any charges in excess of what the customer would have paid
absent the unauthorized change in electric service provider.
(K) Information
concerning actual meter readings.
(1) A
statement that the electric utility is required to obtain an actual meter
reading when the customer initiates or terminates electric service with the
electric utility, if the meter has not been read within the preceding sixty
days.
(2) A statement that, if the
meter has not been read within the preceding thirty-three to fifty-nine days,
the electric utility is required to inform the customer, when the customer
contacts the electric utility to initiate or terminate service, of the option
to have an actual meter read, at no charge.
(3) A statement that the customer may request
two actual meter reads per calendar year, at no charge, if the customer's usage
has been estimated for more than two of the consecutively preceding billing
cycles or if the customer has reasonable grounds to believe that the meter is
malfunctioning.
(L) A
statement that customers have the right to obtain the approximate generation
resource mix and environmental characteristics in accordance with rule
4901:1-10-31
of the Administrative Code. The statement shall include a notification that
customers shall be provided a link to the EDU's website or the commission's
environmental disclosure information for consumers' website containing the
information, or at the request of the customer, a hardcopy of the data at no
cost to the customer.