Current through all regulations passed and filed through March 18, 2024
(A) This rule applies to an electric utility
that issues customers a consolidated electric bill that includes both electric
utility and competitive retail electric service (CRES) provider charges for
electric services. Nothing in this rule affects the obligations of the electric
utility to provide disconnection notices. An electric
utility cannot discriminate or unduly restrict a customer's CRES provider from
including non-jurisdictional charges on a consolidated electric
bill.
(B) A supplier
agreement between an electric utility and a CRES provider must provide that if
the electric utility collects customer payments on behalf of the CRES provider,
the customer's liability to the CRES provider ceases to the extent of a payment
made and applicable to the customer's CRES provider account.
(C) Consolidated bills shall be accurate,
shall be rendered at monthly intervals, and shall contain clear and
understandable form and language. All consolidated customer bills issued by or
on behalf of an electric utility and a CRES provider must include at least the
following information:
(1) The customer's
name, billing address, and service address.
(2) The electric utility's twenty-four hour,
local and toll-free telephone numbers for reporting service
emergencies.
(3) The dates of the
service period covered by the bill.
(4) Current electric charges, separated from
gas charges, if these charges appear on the same bill, but only to the extent
that the biller provides both electric and gas services.
(5) Applicable billing determinants:
beginning meter read, ending meter read, demand meter read, multipliers,
consumption, and demand.
(6)
Identification of estimated bills.
(7) Any non-recurring charge(s).
(8) Net-metered usage for customer
generators, if applicable.
(9) Each
charge for non-jurisdictional services,
if applicable, and the name and toll-free number of each provider of such
service(s).
(10) Amount due for
previous billing period.
(11) Total
payments, late payment charges or gross/net charges, and total credits applied
during the billing period.
(12)
Total consolidated amount due and payable, or, if applicable, the total
consolidated budget bill amount.
(13) Due date for payment to keep the account
current. The due date shall not be less than fourteen days from the date of
postmark. For residential bills being issued from outside the state of Ohio the
due date shall be no less than twenty-one days.
(14) Name and address of the electric utility
to which payments should be made.
(15) The following notice:
"If your complaint is not resolved after you have called your
electric supplier and/or 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."
(16) An explanation of codes and
abbreviations used.
(17) At a
minimum, definitions for the following terms, or like terms used by the
company, if applicable: customer charge, delivery charge, estimated reading,
generation charge, kilowatt hour (kWh), and late payment charge.
(18) The price-to-compare for residential
bills and a notice that such customers can obtain a written explanation of the
price-to-compare from their electric utility.
(D) In addition to the information required
pursuant to paragraph (C) of this rule, each consolidated bill issued must
include, in that portion of the bill which details the charges from the
electric utility, at least the following information:
(1) Electric utility account
number.
(2) Applicable rate
schedule.
(3) Numerical statement
of the customer's historical consumption for each of the preceding twelve
months, and both the total and average consumption for such twelve-month
period.
(4) Specific tariffed
charges to the extent applicable: customer charge, delivery charge, and other
conceptually similar tariffed charges.
(5) If the customer is on a budget plan with
the electric utility only, the monthly budget amount and current balance of
electric utility account.
(6)
Current charges.
(7) The electric
utility's local and toll-free telephone numbers and address for questions and
complaints.
(E) In
addition to the information required pursuant to paragraph (C) of this rule,
each consolidated bill issued must include, in that portion of the bill which
details the charges from the CRES provider, at least the following information:
(1) Customer's CRES account number, if
different from the electric utility account number.
(2) To the extent applicable, itemization for
each charge including, for fixed-price offers, the unit price per kWh for
competitive service and, for all other offers for electric generation service,
an explanation of how the rate is derived, as well as any other information the
customer would need to recalculate the bill for accuracy.
(3) If the customer is on a budget plan with
the CRES provider only, the monthly budget amount and the current balance of
the CRES account.
(4) Current
charges.
(5) A highlighted notice
of any change in rates, terms, or conditions appearing on the first two
consecutive bills following the occurrence of any such changes and a clear
explanation of each change.
(F) Consolidated bill format. Any new
consolidated bill format proposed by an electric utility shall be filed with
the commission for approval. If an application for a consolidated bill format
is not acted upon by the commission within forty-five calendar days after it is
filed, the consolidated bill format shall be deemed approved on the forty-sixth
day after filing.
(G) Transfer of
customer billing information.
(1) The
non-billing CRES provider shall furnish the applicable required bill content
information to the billing party in a timely manner and in a mutually agreed
upon electronic format for inclusion in the consolidated customer
bill.
(2) The billing electric
utility shall include in the consolidated bill all required bill content
information furnished by the non-billing CRES provider.
(3) An entity ordered by the commission to
provide any bill content, message, insert, or notice remains responsible to
provide such information to its customers, although the information may be
provided through the consolidated bill.
(H) Partial payment priority.
(1) A customer's partial payment shall be
credited in the following order:
(a) Billed
and past due CRES provider charges, or, if applicable, CRES provider payment
arrangement or past due CRES provider budget billing.
(b) Billed and past due electric utility
distribution, standard offer generation, and transmission charges or, if
applicable, electric utility payment arrangement or past due electric utility
budget billing.
(c) Billed and due
current electric utility distribution and transmission charges or current
electric utility budget billing.
(d) Billed and due current CRES provider
charges or current CRES provider budget billing.
(e) Other past due and current
charges for non-jurisdictional services
, excluding CRES
charges.
(2) Exceptions
to the partial payment priority.
(a) Payments
in full of the undisputed amount related to a bona fide dispute do not
constitute partial payments. Payments made on accounts for which there is a
bona fide dispute shall be credited to the undisputed portion of the
account.
(b) If a customer pays an
agreed-upon electric utility and/or CRES budget payment amount, then that
payment shall be considered payment in full for the current bill.
(I) Upon the customer's
switch from a CRES provider, the billing party shall identify for the customer
and state on the bill the date after which the billing party will no longer
remit payments to the previous CRES provider and include any outstanding
balance due the previous CRES provider.
(J) Any electric utility wishing to issue
consolidated billing statements online shall follow the listed guidelines:
(1) A customer shall not be required to use
online billing.
(2) No enrollment
or usage fees shall be assessed to a customer who chooses to receive bills
and/or customer information online.
(3) The online billing statement shall
include all requirements listed in paragraphs (C), (D), and (E) of this
rule.
(4) The electric utility
shall maintain a secure and encrypted site that is to be accessed only by the
customer of record after completing a secure registration process.
(5) Any fees to accept online payments shall
be clearly disclosed in payment window(s).
(6) Any payment made online shall be
posted to the customer's account in
accordance with paragraph (E) of rule
4901:1-10-22
of the Administrative Code. The time needed to post the payment to the
customer's account shall be clearly stated.
(7) If a customer chooses to use online
billing, the customer shall not be restricted to making payments online in the
future. All payment methods shall continue to be available to the
customer.