An uncalled amendment to Connecticut HB 7155 would strike from the bill a section prohibiting auto-renewals of electric supplier contracts

The uncalled amendment could be taken up during debate on the bill

The uncalled amendment replaces such section with a section addressing consolidated billing by electric suppliers offering community distributed generation. A program for supplier consolidated billing, without shared distributed generation, is not included in the amendment

The uncalled amendment does not alter other sections of the bill, such as new requirements for telesales and door to door marketing (including recording the entire sales pitch) and a requirement to seek PURA approval for customer assignments (see details here)

Under the uncalled amendment, "billing agent" means an electric supplier that has obtained a billing agent license and has entered into a contract with a subscriber [of a shared clean energy facility] to receive such subscriber's electric distribution company bill

"Billing agent services" means the services a billing agent agrees to provide to a subscriber in a contract, including, but not limited to, the billing agent receiving such subscriber's electric distribution company bill and the billing agent remitting payment for the charges on such bill to the electric distribution company

The uncalled amendment would provide that, on or before September 1, 2019, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall initiate a docket to develop a process for issuing licenses to electric suppliers to be billing agents. Such docket shall include the creation of an application form for such billing agent licenses, provided, (1) the authority may not issue a billing agent license to an electric supplier unless the authority determines that the electric supplier has the technical, managerial and financial capacity to provide billing agent services, and (2) before issuing a billing agent license to an electric supplier, the authority may require the electric supplier to provide and maintain a bond or other security in the amount of five hundred thousand dollars to ensure the electric supplier's financial responsibility for the billing agent services. The authority shall issue a final decision on such docket on or before March 1, 2020.

The uncalled amendment further provides that an electric supplier that obtains a billing agent may (1) own and operate one or more shared energy merchant facilities, or (2) contract with a third-party entity to build, own or operate one or more shared energy merchant facilities. Such electric supplier may enter into contracts with subscribers for each subscriber to (A) purchase subscriptions to such shared energy merchant facility, and (B) assign such electric supplier to be such subscriber's billing agent. If a subscriber assigns an electric supplier to be such subscriber's billing agent, such electric supplier shall notify the electric distribution company where such subscriber is a customer.

Each electric distribution company shall provide billing credits to its customers as described below. A billing agent shall notify an electric distribution company of the value, in dollars, of a subscriber's subscription, and such billing credit shall be applied against the subscriber's customer account with the electric distribution company.

During the period commencing on the first day of commercial operation of a shared energy merchant facility and ending after five years, a billing credit equal to ten per cent of the energy generated or dispatched by such shared energy merchant facility shall be assigned to a state beneficial account

No electric supplier or billing agent that sells subscriptions for a shared energy merchant facility may market such subscriptions using door-to-door marketing or telemarketing solicitation for the initial sale of such subscription to a residential customer

The uncalled amendment provides that an electric distribution company may recover its costs and investments that have been prudently incurred and its estimated revenues lost, as determined by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, from implementing the provisions of the bill. The mechanism may be one or more of the following: (1) Approval of rates as provided in sections 16-19 and 16-19e of the 104 general statutes; (2) the energy adjustment clause as provided in section 16-19b of the general statutes; or (3) the federally mandated congestion charges, as defined in section 16-1 of the general statutes