Current through all regulations passed and filed through March 18, 2024
(A) At a minimum, the gas or natural gas
company tariff shall include provisions governing the relationship between the
retail natural gas supplier and the governmental aggregator for competitive
retail natural gas service. Such provisions shall address:
(1) Nomination and deliveries.
(2) Billing (between the gas or natural gas
company and the retail natural gas supplier or governmental
aggregator).
(3) Customer billing
(options, collection, application of customer payments).
(4) Measurement of delivered
volume.
(5) Shrinkage and
retainable factors.
(6) Customer
enrollment process information exchange.
(7) Dispute resolution process (between the
gas or natural gas company and the retail natural gas supplier or governmental
aggregator).
(8) Standard operating
rules.
(9) Performance standards of
the retail natural gas supplier or governmental aggregator.
(10) Creditworthiness and default
security.
(11) Supplier
agreement.
(12) A listing and
description of all fees and charges assessed to retail natural gas suppliers or
governmental aggregators.
(13)
Service termination and disconnection (of end-user customer).
(14) Conditions and processes for returning
customers to the gas or natural gas company's commodity service.
(15) Customer enrollment and
switching.
(16) Supplier proof of
certification.
(B) A gas
or natural gas company shall execute a supplier agreement with each retail
natural gas supplier and governmental aggregator to operate under the terms of
the gas or natural gas company's tariff. At a minimum, the supplier agreement
shall include representations and warranties, indemnification, limitations on
liability, default (breach), remedies, force majeure, commencement, and term. A
current copy of the supplier agreement is to be filed with the gas or natural
gas company's tariff or in its tariff docket.
(C) Gas or natural gas companies shall make
eligible-customer lists available to certified retail natural gas suppliers and
governmental aggregators via electronic media. Such lists shall be updated
quarterly and shall, at a minimum, contain customer name, service and mailing
addresses, load profile reference category, meter read date or schedule, and
historical consumption data for each of the most recent twelve months. All
information provided on the eligible-customer lists will be identified in the
company tariff and approved by the commission.
(D) The gas or natural gas company shall
coordinate customer enrollment with the retail natural gas supplier and
governmental aggregator in compliance with all applicable requirements.
(E)
The gas or natural gas company shall, within two business days of confirming a
retail natural gas supplier's or governmental aggregator's valid electronic
enrollment request and prior to commencing enrollment, provide to the customer,
by mail or email with an electronic notification of receipt, a competitively
neutral confirmation notice stating:
(1) The
gas or natural gas company has received a request to enroll the customer for
competitive retail natural gas service with the named retail natural gas
supplier or governmental aggregator.
(2) The date such service is expected to
begin.
(3) The customer has seven
business days from the postmark date on the notice to contact the gas or
natural gas company to rescind the enrollment request or notify the gas or
natural gas company that the change of the retail natural gas supplier or
governmental aggregator was not requested by the customer.
(4) The gas or natural gas company's
toll-free or local telephone number.
(F) Within two business
days after receiving a customer's request to rescind enrollment with the retail
natural gas supplier or governmental aggregator, the gas or natural gas company
shall initiate such rescission and inform the retail natural gas supplier or
governmental aggregator that such action has been taken.
(G)
Customers returning to the gas or natural gas company.
(1) Any customer returning to the gas or
natural gas company's commodity service due to default, abandonment, slamming,
or certification rescission of a retail natural gas supplier or governmental
aggregator will not be liable for any costs associated with the
switch.
(2) Any switching fee
applicable to customers switching from one marketer to another marketer shall
also apply to customers switching from a marketer to a gas or natural gas
company's applicable tariff service.
(3) Customers participating in an opt-out
government aggregation program will not be charged a switching fee upon
returning to a gas or natural gas company's applicable tariff service due to
either termination of the aggregation or the aggregator switching
suppliers.
(4) Any customer
returned to a gas or natural gas company's applicable tariff service shall pay
the applicable rate while taking such service.
(5) Any customer returned to the gas or
natural gas company's applicable tariff service pursuant to paragraph (E) of
rule 4901:1-28-04 of the
Administrative Code shall not be charged a switching fee.
(6) Within two business days after confirming
the validated electronic data file for a retail natural gas supplier's or
governmental aggregator's customer drop request, the gas or natural gas company
shall provide to the customer, by mail or email with an electronic notification
of receipt, a notice stating both of the following:
(a) The gas or natural gas company has
received a request to drop the customer from competitive retail natural gas
service or governmental aggregation with the named retail natural gas supplier
or governmental aggregator.
(b) The
retail natural gas supplier's or governmental aggregator's toll-free telephone
number.
(H) Within three
business days of notifying a retail natural gas supplier of a customer
cancellation, the gas or natural gas company shall provide to the customer, by
mail or email with an electronic notification of receipt, a notice stating all
of the following:
(1) The gas or natural gas
company has received the cancellation request from the customer and has
notified the customer's retail natural gas supplier of the
cancellation.
(2) The date the gas
or natural gas company received the cancellation.
(3) The gas or natural gas company's
toll-free telephone number.
(I) In the event of a
material default, as defined by a gas or natural gas company's tariff or by an
agreement between the gas or natural gas company and the retail natural gas
supplier or governmental aggregator:
(1) The
gas or natural gas company will serve a written notice of such default in
reasonable detail and with a proposed remedy to the retail natural gas supplier
or governmental aggregator and the commission.
(2) On or after the date the default notice
has been served, the gas or natural gas company may file with the commission a
written request for authorization to terminate or suspend the retail natural
gas supplier or governmental aggregator from participation with the gas or
natural gas company's supplier program.
(3) If the material default is due to reasons
other than underdelivery or nondelivery, and if the commission, or an attorney
examiner, does not issue an entry to suspend or reject the action proposed by
the gas or natural gas company within ten business days after receipt of the
request, the gas or natural gas company's request to terminate or suspend will
be deemed authorized on the eleventh business day.
(4) If the default is due to underdelivery or
nondelivery and, if the commission, or an attorney examiner, does not act
within five business days after receipt of the request, the gas or natural gas
company's request to terminate or suspend will be deemed authorized on the
sixth business day.
(5)
Notwithstanding paragraphs (J)(3) and (J)(4) of this rule, terminations or
suspensions from a gas or natural gas company's supplier program are to be
authorized by the commission.
(6)
The gas or natural gas company will send notices pursuant to paragraph (J) of
this rule by electronic mail, fax, overnight mail, or hand delivery to the
commission and staff at the commission's offices. The gas or natural gas
company will notify all commissioners, the chief of staff, the director of the
service monitoring and enforcement department, the director of the rates and
analysis department, the director of the legal department, and the chief of the
attorney general's public utilities section. The gas or natural gas company
will send the notice to the address, electronic mail, and fax number provided
by the retail natural gas supplier or governmental aggregator in its
aggregation agreement.