Ohio Administrative Code
Title 4901:1 - Utilities
Chapter 4901:1-21 - Competitive Retail Electric Service Providers
Section 4901:1-21-08 - Customer access, slamming complaints, and complaint handling procedures
Universal Citation: OH Admin Code 4901:1-21-08
Current through all regulations passed and filed through March 18, 2024
(A) Customer access
(1) Each competitive retail electric service
(CRES) provider shall ensure customers reasonable access to its service
representatives to make inquiries and complaints, discuss charges on customer
bills, terminate competitive service, and transact any other pertinent
business.
(2) Telephone access
shall be toll-free or local, and afford customers
prompt answer times during normal business hours.
(3) Each CRES provider shall provide a
twenty-four hour automated telephone message instructing callers to report any
service interruptions or electrical emergencies to their electric
utility.
(B) Customer complaints
(1) Each CRES provider
shall investigate customer complaints (including customer complaints referred
by the electric utility) and provide a status report within
three
business days following receipt of the complaint to:
(a) The customer, when the complaint is made
directly to the CRES provider.
(b)
The customer and staff, when a complaint is referred to the CRES provider by
the staff.
(2) If an
investigation is not completed within
ten business days, the CRES
provider shall provide status reports, either orally or in writing, to the
customer, or if applicable, to the customer and staff. Such status reports
shall be provided at three business-day intervals until the investigation
is complete, unless agreed to otherwise.
(3) The CRES provider shall inform the customer, or
the customer and staff, of the results of the investigation, orally or in
writing, no later than three business days after completion of the
investigation. The customer or staff may request the report in
writing.
(4) If a residential or small commercial customer
disputes the CRES provider's report, the CRES provider shall inform the
customer that the staff is available to help resolve informal complaints. The
CRES provider shall provide the consumer with the current address,
the toll-free
number of the commission's call
center, the telephone number through which hearing and
speech impaired customers may contact the commission, and the
commission's website.
(5) Each CRES provider
shall retain records of customer complaints, investigations, and complaint
resolutions for one year after the occurrence of such complaints, and shall
provide such records to the staff within
three business days of
request.
(6) Each CRES provider shall make good faith efforts
to resolve disputes, and cooperate with the resolution of any joint issues with
the electric utility.
(C) Slamming complaints.
(1) A slamming complaint is a customer's
allegation that the customer's supplier of electric service has been switched
without the customer's authorization.
(2) If a customer contacts the CRES provider
alleging that the customer's supplier has been switched without the customer's
authorization, the CRES provider shall take the following actions:
(a) Provide the customer with the enrollment
information contained in its records.
(b) Refer the customer to the commission and
provide the customer with the commission's current address,
the toll-free
number of the commission's call
center, the telephone number through which hearing and
speech impaired customers may contact the commission, and the
commission's website.
(c) Cooperate
with staff in any subsequent investigations of the slamming complaint,
including assisting staff in determining the amount of any restitution owed to
the customer pursuant to paragraph (C)(5) of this rule if the customer was
switched without authorization from the customer's supplier of electric
service.
(3) If a
customer initiates a slamming complaint with staff within thirty calendar days
after being issued a bill from the alleged slammer, the customer shall not be
required to pay the current charges assessed by the alleged slammer until the
staff determines that the change in the customer's electric service provider
was authorized.
(4) Except as
provided in rules
4901:1-21-16
and
4901:1-21-17
of the Administrative Code, if the CRES provider cannot produce valid documents
confirming that the customer authorized the switch, there shall be a rebuttable
presumption that the customer was switched without authorization. Such
documents shall include one of the following, in conformance with the
requirements of rule
4901:1-21-06
of the Administrative Code:
(a) A signed
contract, in the case of direct enrollment.
(b) An audio recording, in the case of
telephonic enrollment.
(c)
Electronic consent, in the case of internet enrollment.
(5) If staff determines that the customer was
switched without authorization, the CRES provider responsible for initiating
the switch shall by the end of the succeeding billing period following the
customer's return to the correct supplier of electric service, take all three
of the following actions:
(a) Credit or
refund to the customer any fees previously charged for switching the customer
to and from the correct supplier of electric service.
(b) Either of the two following actions:
(i) If reported to staff within the thirty
calendar days after being issued a bill from the alleged slammer, absolve the
customer of any liability for charges assessed by the slamming CRES provider to
the customer and refund to the customer any charges collected from the
customer.
(ii) If reported to staff
more than thirty calendar days after being issued a bill from the alleged
slammer, credit the customer any fees the slamming CRES provider charged in
excess of the amount the customer would have paid its previous supplier of
electric service for the same usage.
(c) If the customer can not be returned to
the original contract terms with its previous supplier of electric service, the
slamming CRES provider shall credit or refund to the customer the value of the
customer's contract with the customer's previous supplier of electric service
for the remaining term of the contract immediately prior to the slam.
(6) In the event the customer was
switched without authorization, the customer's previous CRES provider shall
take all of the following actions:
(a)
Re-enroll the customer without penalty under such customer's original contract
price and terms, including substantially similar inducements to enter such
contract. If the original CRES provider is unable to return the customer to the
original contract price, the original CRES provider may enroll the customer in
a new contract pursuant to the provisions of rule
4901:1-21-06
of the Administrative Code, or the customer may select a new CRES provider, or
return to the electric utility's standard offer service.
(b) Issue the customer a credit on the first
bill following the customer's re-enrollment, for any exit fees previously
charged the customer as a result of the unauthorized switch, or directly
reimburse the customer for such fees.
(c) Assist staff in determining the amount of
any restitution owed the customer under this rule.
(7) If staff informs the CRES provider that a
customer was switched without the customer's authorization, the CRES provider
that improperly initiated the switch shall within thirty calendar days
reimburse the prior CRES provider and the electric utility for any reasonable
incremental costs incurred by them to correct the unauthorized
switch.
(8) If staff determines
that a customer's service was switched without the customer's authorization,
staff shall notify the electric utility of such determination. After such
notification, and if the electric utility is not at fault, the electric utility
may then seek reimbursement from the CRES provider that improperly initiated
the switch for any incremental costs incurred by the electric utility to
correct the unauthorized switch including any switching fees. The electric
utility shall provide the CRES provider an itemized list of any such
incremental costs.
(9) If
correcting an unauthorized switch involves returning the customer to its
previous CRES provider, the electric utility shall make the corrective switch
at the next regularly scheduled meter reading date following receipt of the
enrollment request from the previous CRES provider. Such corrective switch
shall be made in accordance with the electric utility's normal practices and
procedures for switching customers, except that the electric utility shall not
charge or shall credit to the customer any switching fees and the electric
utility is not required to issue the customer the notice required by paragraph
(F)(1) of rule
4901:1-10-29
of the Administrative Code.
(10) If
correcting an unauthorized switch involves returning the customer to the
electric utility's standard offer service, the electric utility shall make the
corrective switch at the next regularly scheduled meter reading date in
accordance with the electric utility's normal practices and procedures for
switching customers, except that the electric utility shall not charge or shall
credit to the customer any switching fees and that the electric utility is not
required to issue the customer the notice required by paragraph (F)(1) of rule
4901:1-10-29
of the Administrative Code.
(11)
If, as part of correcting an unauthorized switch, a customer who was taking
standard offer service from the electric utility at the time of the
unauthorized switch is returned to standard offer service, the customer shall
not be subject to any minimum stay or other commission-approved alternative for
returning customers, unless the customer would have been subject to such a
requirement had the unauthorized switch not occurred.
(12) If the electric utility switches a CRES
provider's customer to the electric utility's standard offer service without
authorization by the customer, without the authorization of the appropriate
CRES provider or pursuant to a commission order, the electric utility shall
take all of the following actions:
(a) Not
charge, or shall credit the customer, any switching fees and shall return the
customer to the previous CRES provider, making the corrective switch at the
next regularly scheduled meter reading date following receipt of the enrollment
request from the previous CRES provider.
(b) By the next billing cycle, take all three
of the following actions:
(i) Credit or
refund to the customer any fees previously charged for switching the customer
to the CRES provider.
(ii) Either
of the two following actions:
(a) If reported
to staff within thirty calendar days after being issued a bill by the alleged
slammer, absolve the customer of any liability for any charges assessed by the
slamming electric utility to the customer and refund to the customer any
charges collected from the customer.
(b) If reported to staff more than thirty
calendar days after being issued a bill by the alleged slammer, credit the
customer any fees the slamming electric utility charged in excess of the amount
the customer would have paid its previous CRES provider for the same
usage.
(iii) If the
customer can not be returned to the original contract terms with its previous
CRES provider, the slamming electric utility shall credit or refund to the
customer, the value of the customer's contract with the customer's previous
supplier of electric service for the remaining term of the contract immediately
prior to the slam.
(c)
Reimburse the CRES provider for any incremental costs incurred by the CRES
provider to correct the unauthorized switch, within thirty calendar days of
receiving an itemized invoice of the incurred incremental costs.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Ohio may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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