2011 Connecticut Code
Title 16 Public Service Companies
Chapter 283 Department of Public Utility Control: Telegraph, Telephone, Illuminating, Power and Water Companies
Sec. 16-245o. Restrictions on use of customer information for marketing. Promotional inserts in electric bills prohibited. Procedures for entering and terminating service contracts. Penalties.

      Sec. 16-245o. Restrictions on use of customer information for marketing. Promotional inserts in electric bills prohibited. Procedures for entering and terminating service contracts. Penalties. (a) To protect a customer's right to privacy from unwanted solicitation, each electric company or electric distribution company, as the case may be, shall distribute to each customer a form approved by the Department of Public Utility Control which the customer shall submit to the customer's electric or electric distribution company in a timely manner if the customer does not want the customer's name, address, telephone number and rate class to be released to electric suppliers. On and after July 1, 1999, each electric or electric distribution company, as the case may be, shall make available to all electric suppliers customer names, addresses, telephone numbers, if known, and rate class, unless the electric company or electric distribution company has received a form from a customer requesting that such information not be released. Additional information about a customer for marketing purposes shall not be released to any electric supplier unless a customer consents to a release by one of the following: (1) An independent third-party telephone verification; (2) receipt of a written confirmation received in the mail from the customer after the customer has received an information package confirming any telephone agreement; (3) the customer signs a document fully explaining the nature and effect of the release; or (4) the customer's consent is obtained through electronic means, including, but not limited to, a computer transaction.

      (b) All electric suppliers shall have equal access to customer information required to be disclosed under subsection (a) of this section. No electric supplier shall have preferential access to historical distribution company customer usage data.

      (c) No electric or electric distribution company shall include in any bill or bill insert anything that directly or indirectly promotes a generation entity or affiliate of the electric distribution company. No electric supplier shall include a bill insert in an electric bill of an electric distribution company.

      (d) All marketing information provided pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be formatted electronically by the electric company or electric distribution company, as the case may be, in a form that is readily usable by standard commercial software packages. Updated lists shall be made available within a reasonable time, as determined by the department, following a request by an electric supplier. Each electric supplier seeking the information shall pay a fee to the electric company or electric distribution company, as the case may be, which reflects the incremental costs of formatting, sorting and distributing this information, together with related software changes. Customers shall be entitled to any available individual information about their loads or usage at no cost.

      (e) Each electric supplier shall, prior to the initiation of electric generation services, provide the potential customer with a written notice describing the rates, information on air emissions and resource mix of generation facilities operated by and under long-term contract to the supplier, terms and conditions of the service, and a notice describing the customer's right to cancel the service, as provided in this section. No electric supplier shall provide electric generation services unless the customer has signed a service contract or consents to such services by one of the following: (1) An independent third-party telephone verification; (2) receipt of a written confirmation received in the mail from the customer after the customer has received an information package confirming any telephone agreement; (3) the customer signs a document fully explaining the nature and effect of the initiation of the service; or (4) the customer's consent is obtained through electronic means, including, but not limited to, a computer transaction. A customer who has a maximum demand of five hundred kilowatts or less shall, until midnight of the third business day after the day on which the customer enters into a service agreement, have the right to cancel a contract for electric generation services entered into with an electric supplier.

      (f) An electric supplier shall not advertise or disclose the price of electricity in such a manner as to mislead a reasonable person into believing that the electric generation services portion of the bill will be the total bill amount for the delivery of electricity to the customer's location. When advertising or disclosing the price for electricity, the electric supplier shall also disclose the electric distribution company's average current charges, including the competitive transition assessment and the systems benefits charge, for that customer class.

      (g) Each electric supplier shall comply with the provisions of the telemarketing regulations adopted pursuant to 15 USC 6102.

      (h) Any violation of this section shall be deemed an unfair or deceptive trade practice under subsection (a) of section 42-110b.

      (P.A. 98-28, S. 26, 117; P.A. 03-135, S. 12, 13.)

      History: P.A. 98-28 effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 03-135 amended Subsec. (a) to make technical changes, including technical changes for purposes of gender neutrality, and to replace provisions re signed release made available to department with Subdivs. (1) to (4), inclusive, re means of consenting to a release and amended Subsec. (e) to replace provision re consent to services pursuant to Sec. 16-245s with Subdivs. (1) to (4), inclusive, re means of consenting to services and to add "who has a maximum demand of five hundred kilowatts or less", effective July 1, 2003.