48:3-85 - Consumer protection standards
48:3-85. Consumer protection standards
36. a. Notwithstanding any provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) to the contrary, the board, in consultation with the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety, shall initiate a proceeding and shall adopt, after notice, provision of the opportunity for comment, and public hearing, interim consumer protection standards for electric power suppliers or gas suppliers, within 90 days of February 9, 1999, including, but not limited to, standards for collections, credit, contracts, authorized changes of an energy consumer's electric power supplier or gas supplier, for the prohibition of discriminatory marketing, for advertising and for disclosure. Such standards shall be effective as regulations immediately upon filing with the Office of Administrative Law and shall be effective for a period not to exceed 18 months, and may, thereafter, be amended, adopted or readopted by the board in accordance with the provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act."
(1)Contract standards shall include, but not be limited to, requirements that electric power supply contracts or gas supply contracts must conspicuously disclose the duration of the contract; state the price per kilowatt hour or per therm or other pricing determinant approved by the board; have the customer's written signature; the customer's electronic signature; an audio recording of a telephone call initiated by the customer; independent, third-party verification, in accordance with section 37 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-86), of a telephone call initiated by an electric power supplier, gas supplier or private aggregator; or such alternative forms of verification as the board, in consultation with the Division of Consumer Affairs, may permit for switching electric power suppliers or gas suppliers and for contract renewal; and include termination procedures, notice of any fees, and toll-free or local telephone numbers for the electric power supplier or gas supplier and for the board.
(2)Standards for the prohibition of discriminatory marketing standards shall provide at a minimum that a decision made by an electric power supplier or a gas supplier to accept or reject a customer shall not be based on race, color, national origin, age, gender, religion, source of income, receipt of public benefits, family status, sexual preference, or geographic location. The board shall adopt reporting requirements to monitor compliance with such standards.
(3)Advertising standards for electric power suppliers or gas suppliers shall provide, at a minimum, that optional charges to the consumer will not be added to any advertised cost per kilowatt hour or per therm, and that the only unit of measurement that may be used in advertisements is cost per kilowatt hour or per therm, unless otherwise approved by the board. If an electric power supplier or gas supplier does not advertise using cost per kilowatt hour or per therm, the electric power supplier or gas supplier shall provide, at the consumer's request, an estimate of the cost per kilowatt hour or per therm. Any optional charges to the consumer shall be identified separately and denoted as optional.
(4)Credit standards shall include, at a minimum, that the credit requirements used to make offer decisions must be the same for all residential customers and that electric power suppliers, gas suppliers and private aggregators not impose unreasonable income or credit requirements.
(5)Billing standards shall include, at a minimum, provisions prohibiting electric public utilities, gas public utilities, electric power suppliers and gas suppliers from charging a fee to residential customers for either the commencement or termination of electric generation service or gas supply service.
b. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, an electric power supplier, a gas supplier, an electric public utility, and a gas public utility shall not disclose, sell or transfer individual proprietary information, including, but not limited to, a customer's name, address, telephone number, energy usage and electric power payment history, to a third party without the consent of the customer.
(2) (a) An electric public utility or a gas public utility may disclose and provide, in an electronic format, which may include a CD rom, diskette, and other format as determined by the board, without the consent of a residential customer, a residential customer's name, rate class, and account number, to a government aggregator that is a municipality or a county, or to an energy agent acting as a consultant to a government aggregator that is a municipality or a county, if the customer information is to be used to establish a government energy aggregation program pursuant to sections 42, 43 and 45 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-91; 48:3-92; and 48:3-94). The number of residential customers and their rate class, and the load profile of non-residential customers who have affirmatively chosen to be included in a government energy aggregation program pursuant to paragraph (3) of subsection a. of section 45 of P.L.1999, c 23 (C.48:3-94) may be disclosed pursuant to this paragraph prior to the request by the government aggregator for bids pursuant to paragraph (1) of subsection b. of section 45 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-94), and the name, address, and account number of a residential customer and the name, address and account number of non-residential customers who have affirmatively chosen to be included in a government energy aggregation program pursuant to paragraph (3) of subsection a. of section 45 of P.L.1999, c. 23 (C.48:3-94) may be disclosed pursuant to this paragraph upon the awarding of a contract to a licensed power supplier or licensed gas supplier pursuant to paragraph (2) of subsection b. of section 45 of P.L.1999, c.23. Any customer information disclosed pursuant to this paragraph shall not be considered a government record for the purposes of, and shall be exempt from the provisions of P.L.2001, c.404.
(b) An electric public utility or a gas public utility disclosing customer information pursuant to this paragraph shall exercise reasonable care in the preparation of this customer information, but shall not be responsible for errors or omissions in the preparation or the content of the customer information.
(c)Any person using any information disclosed pursuant to this paragraph for any purpose other than to establish a government energy aggregation program pursuant to sections 42, 43 and 45 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-91; 48:3-92; and 48:3-94) shall be subject to the provisions of section 34 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-83).
(d)The role of an electric public utility or a gas public utility in a government energy aggregation program established pursuant to P.L.1999, c. 23 shall be limited to the provisions of this paragraph.
(3)Whenever any individual proprietary information is disclosed, sold or transferred, pursuant to paragraph (1) or paragraph (2)of subsection b. of this section, it shall be used only for the provision of continued electric generation service, electric related service, gas supply service or gas related service to that customer. In the case of a transfer or sale of a business, customer consent shall not be required for the transfer of customer proprietary information to the subsequent owner of the business for maintaining the continuation of such services.
(4)Notwithstanding any provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) to the contrary, the board shall, within 90 days of the effective date of P.L.2003, c.24 (C.48:3-93.1 et al.), review existing regulations including, without limitation, Chapter 4 of Title 14 of the New Jersey Administrative Code (Energy Competition Standards), to determine their consistency with the provisions of section 36 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-85), section 43 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-92) and section 45 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-94), shall repeal or modify any regulations that are inconsistent with the provisions thereof and shall adopt regulations and standards implementing the provisions thereof permitting disclosure of customer information without the consent of the customer including, without limitation, provisions for the development of a board-approved agreement between the disclosing party and the receiving party and the creation of a mechanism for the recovery by the disclosing electric public utility or gas public utility of its reasonable incremental costs of providing such information if such costs are not covered in an existing third party supplier agreement.
(5)An electric power supplier, a gas supplier, a gas public utility or an electric public utility may use individual proprietary information that it has obtained by virtue of its provision of electric generation service, electric related service, gas supply service or gas related service to:
(a)Initiate, render, bill and collect for such services to the extent otherwise authorized to provide billing and collection services;
(b)Protect the rights or property of the electric power supplier, gas supplier or public utility; and
(c)Protect consumers of such services and other electric power suppliers, gas suppliers or electric and gas public utilities from fraudulent, abusive or unlawful use of, or subscription to, such services.
c.The board shall establish and maintain a database for the purpose of recording customer complaints concerning electric and gas public utilities, electric power suppliers, gas suppliers, private aggregators, and energy agents.
d.The board, in consultation with the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety, shall establish, or cause to be established, a multi-lingual electric and gas consumer education program. The goal of the consumer education program shall be to educate residential, small business, and special needs consumers about the implications for consumers of the restructuring of the electric power and gas industries. The consumer education program shall include, but need not be limited to, the dissemination of information to enable consumers to make informed choices among available electricity and gas services and suppliers, and the communication to consumers of the consumer protection provisions of this act.
The board shall ensure the neutrality of the content and message of advertisements and materials.
The board shall promulgate standards for the recovery of consumer education program costs from customers which include reasonable measures and criteria to judge the success of the program in enhancing customer understanding of retail choice.
e.(Deleted by amendment, P.L.2003, c.24).
L.1999, c.23, s.36; amended 2003,c.24,s.3.