CIS & Billing

Illicit Marketing Practices

We’ll cover state PUC rulings from New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio, dealing with 1) billing overcharges, 2) deceptive promises of savings, 3) faulty enrollment practices, 4) “slamming,” 5) misleading sales scripts used in telemarketing, 6) hidden fixed charges, and 7) concealed pass-through clauses.
Author Bio: 

Phillip Cross is legal editor, Public Utilities Fortnightly, and serves on the editorial staff of Utility Regulatory News, published by Public Utilities Reports, Inc. (our publisher), which reports weekly on ratemaking and regulatory decisions issued by state public utility commissions.

State PUCs take aim at unscrupulous electric and gas suppliers.

Response to Brown Re: Net Metering

Is rooftop solar more like an independent power producer, subject to societal regulation and policy, such as wholesale-level regulation or retail-level resource planning? Or is the electricity that is produced a private consumer good, immune from regulation, policy, and planning?
Author Bio: 

Dr. Charles Cicchetti is a member of Pacific Economics Group, Inc. and the former Miller Chair of Government, Business and the Economy at the University of Southern California.

A response to the letter to the editor by Ashley Brown in our February 2016 issue.

The Social Utility

Utilities across the country are experimenting with various new ways to communicate with customers—from Twitter feeds to text alerts. But few utilities have figured out how to integrate new media channels into a coherent customer engagement approach. A multi-tiered strategy will best serve the needs of customers—and the utility.

Author Bio: 

Paul Woods is industry solutions lead at HP Exstream Enterprise Software.

Mastering multi-channel communications for customer service success.