Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 38, September 21, 2024
(a)
General. The Commission
recommends that public utilities adopt the following guidelines for written
material provided to residential customers. Each utility shall designate
appropriately trained staff persons to serve as liaisons to the Bureau of
Consumer Services regarding this policy statement. Companies shall conduct
field tests, use consumer advisory panels or focus groups to prepare plain
language materials for Commission review. The Bureau of Consumer Services will
selectively review the materials prior to final company publication and mailing
to residential customers.
(1) In preparing
information, the utility shall include use of the following:
(i) Short sentences.
(ii) Active voice rather than passive
voice.
(iii) Personal
pronouns.
(iv) Definition of
necessary terms that are technical and not commonly understood.
(v) Clear section headings which accurately
describe the information that follows.
(vi) Separate listing of each condition of
any agreement, offer or requirement.
(vii) Commonly understood words.
(2) The utility shall avoid the
following practices:
(i) Technical, legal or
utility terms not commonly understood.
(ii) Double negatives.
(iii) Abbreviations not commonly
used.
(iv) Foreign words, except
for information aimed at non-English speaking customers, or words with obsolete
meanings.
(b)
Visual guidelines. In addition to plain language, the
Commission recommends that the utilities adopt the following visual guidelines
for written materials provided to residential customers:
(1) Clear section headings which use bold
face, italics, underlining or color to set them apart from the rest of the
text.
(2) Ink that sharply
contrasts with the paper.
(3)
Spacing and margins which make materials easy to read.
(4) The use of both upper and lower case
letters.
(5) The use of large
typeface, at least 8 to 10 point type.
(6) Line length shall contain between 50 and
70 characters.
(c)
Billing format. The billing formats shall comply with §
§
56.15 and
64.14 (relating to billing
information; and billing information). The Commission recommends that the
company's phone number for questions or complaints be clearly located on the
bill. Plain language shall be used in the billing format as follows:
(1)
Gas and electric
utilities.
(i) A display of the unit
price per kilowatt hour (KWH), therm, hundred cubic feet (CCF) or thousand
cubic feet (MCF) in calculating charges, in addition to the total usage and
charges due.
(ii) A bar graph
displaying comparative energy use indicating whether the amount shown is actual
or estimated.
(iii) Information
regarding the average temperature during the periods under
comparison.
(iv) Technical terms
regularly displayed on the bill clearly defined, listed alphabetically and
prominently located on the bill.
(2)
Water utilities.
(i) Calculation and display of the unit price
per gallon in addition to the total usage and charges due. This is not
applicable to flat rate billing.
(ii) A bar graph displaying comparative water
use for the preceding five quarters or for 13 months, depending on the billing
period and whether the amount shown is actual or estimated. This is not
applicable to flat rate billing.
(iii) Technical terms regularly displayed on
the bill clearly defined, listed alphabetically and prominently located on the
bill.
(3)
Telephone utilities.
(i)
Clearly separated charges for Basic, Nonbasic and Toll Services.
(ii) Discount time periods for local,
measured telephone service clearly defined and prominently located on the
bill.
(iii) Information directing
the customer to the local exchange carrier's discount toll rates within its
directory.
(iv) Clear, concise
billing free of redundant information with a limited number of pages.
(v) Billing for each interexchange carrier
displayed on a separate page with the exception of alternative operator service
providers. Billing for alternative operator service providers may be grouped on
one or more pages. The alternative operator service should clearly be
identified by company name.
(vi)
Technical terms regularly displayed on the bill clearly defined, alphabetically
listed and prominently located on the bill.
