appendix a 2 chapter i: illinois commerce commission

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APPENDIX A

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TITLE 83: PUBLIC UTILITIES 1

CHAPTER I: ILLINOIS COMMERCE COMMISSION 2

SUBCHAPTER c: ELECTRIC UTILITIES 3

4

PART 412 5

OBLIGATIONS OF RETAIL ELECTRIC SUPPLIERS 6

7

SUBPART A: GENERAL 8

9

Section 10

412.10 Definitions 11

412.15 Compliance 12

412.20 Waiver 13

412.30 Construction of this Part (Repealed) 14

15

SUBPART B: MARKETING PRACTICES 16

17

Section 18

412.100 Application of Subpart B 19

412.105 Use of Utility Logo and Name 20

412.110 Minimum Contract Terms and Conditions 21

412.115 Uniform Disclosure Statement 22

412.120 In-PersonDoor-to-Door Solicitation 23

412.130 Telemarketing 24

412.140 Inbound Enrollment Calls 25

412.150 Direct Mail 26

412.160 Online Marketing 27

412.165 Rate Notice to Customers 28

412.170 Conduct, Training and Compliance of RES Agents 29

412.180 Records Retention and Availability 30

412.190 Renewable Energy Product Descriptions 31

32

SUBPART C: RESCISSION, DEPOSITS, EARLY TERMINATION 33

AND AUTOMATIC CONTRACT RENEWAL 34

35

Section 36

412.200 Application of Subpart C 37

412.210 Rescission of Sales Contract 38

412.220 Deposits 39

412.230 Early Termination of Sales Contract 40

412.240 Contract Renewal 41

412.250 Assignment 42

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43

SUBPART D: DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND CUSTOMER COMPLAINT REPORTS 44

45

Section 46

412.300 Application of Subpart D 47

412.310 Required RES Information 48

412.320 Dispute Resolution 49

412.330 Failure to Comply 50

412.340 Severability 51

52

412.APPENDIX A Uniform Disclosure Statement 53

54

AUTHORITY: Implementing Section 16-118 of the Public Utilities Act [220 ILCS 5/16-118] 55

and authorized by Sections 10-101 and 8-501 of the Public Utilities Act [220 ILCS 5/10-101 and 56

8-501]. 57

58

SOURCE: Adopted at 36 Ill. Reg. 17886, effective January 1, 2013; amended at 41 Ill. Reg. 59

______, effective ____________. 60

61

SUBPART A: GENERAL 62

63

Section 412.10 Definitions 64 65

"Act" means the Public Utilities Act [220 ILCS 5]. 66

67

"Alternative retail electric supplier" or "ARES" means an entity that offers for 68

sale or lease, or delivers or furnishes electric itypower or energy to retail 69

customers. (See 220 ILCS 5/16-102.) 70

71

"Commission" means the Illinois Commerce Commission. 72

73

"Complaint" means an objection made to an RES, by a customer or other entity, 74

as to its charges, facilities or service, the disposal of which complaint requires 75

investigation or analysis. 76

77

"Customer" means: 78

79

a retail customer as defined by the Act as who is a single entity using 80

electricityelectric power or energy at a single premises and that either is 81

receiving or is eligible to receive tariffed services from an electric utility 82

or is served by a municipal system or electric cooperative; or 83

84

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an entity that, on December 16, 1997, was receiving electric service from 85

a public utility and was engaged in the practice of resale and 86

redistribution of such electricity within a building prior to January 2, 87

1957, or was providing lighting services to tenants in a multi-occupancy 88

building, but only to the extent such resale, redistribution or lighting 89

service is authorized by the electric utility's tariffs that were on file with 90

the Commission on December 16, 1997. [220 ILCS 5/16-102] 91

92

"Early termination fee" means a fee or penalty for terminating a contract for 93

electric power and energy service before the end of the contract term. 94

95

"Electric utility" means a public utility, as defined in Section 3-105 of the Act, that 96

has a franchise, license, permit or right to furnish or sell electricity to retail 97

customers within a service area. [220 ILCS 5/16-102] 98

99

"Enrollment" means contracting with an RES to provide the supply portion of 100

electric service and the RES submitting a valid direct access service request to the 101

utility to effectuate that contract. 102

103

"Fixed rate" means the charge for electric power and energy service that remains 104

the same for the term of the contract. 105

106

"Inbound enrollment call" means a telephone call to an RES agent initiated by a 107

consumer customer that results in an enrollment or change of provision of his or 108

her electric power and energy service. 109

110

"In-person solicitation" means any sale initiated or conducted when the RES 111

agent is physically present with the customer. 112

113

"Letter of Agency" or "LOA" means the document described in Section 2EE of 114

the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act [815 ILCS 505/2EE] 115

and referenced in Section 16-115A of the Public Utilities Act. 116

117

"Pending enrollment" means a valid direct access service request that has been 118

accepted by an electric utility, for which the meter read switch has not yet 119

occurred. 120

121

"Renewable energy credit" or "REC" has the meaning ascribed in Section 1-10 of 122

the Illinois Power Agency Act [20 ILCS 3855]. 123

124

"Renewable energy resources" has the meaning ascribed in Section 1-10 of the 125

Illinois Power Agency Act. 126

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127

"RES agent" means any employee, agent, independent contractor, consultant or 128

other person who is engaged by the RES to solicit customers to purchase, enroll in 129

or contract for electric power and energy service on behalf of an RES. 130

131

"Rescind" means the cancellation of a contract with an RES and/or pending 132

customer enrollment to an RES, without the incurrence of an early termination 133

fee. 134

135

"Residential customer" means a person receiving gas, electric, water or sanitary 136

sewer utility service for household purposes furnished to a dwelling of one or two 137

units that is billed under a residential rate. 138

139

"Retail electric supplier" or "RES" includes both alternative retail electric 140

suppliers and electric utilities serving or seeking to serve retail customers outside 141

their service areas or providing competitive non-tariffed service (see Section 16-142

116 of the Act). 143

144

"Send" or "Sent", when used in this Part to describe the action to be taken by a 145

Retail Electric Supplier of sending a document to a residential customer or small 146

commercial retail customer may include, if agreed to by the receiving customer, 147

transmission of the document to the customer via electronic delivery (e.g., fax or 148

e-mail). 149

150

"Small commercial retail customer" means a nonresidential customer of an 151

electric utility consuming 15,000 kilowatt-hours or less of electricity annually in 152

its service area. An RES may remove the customer from designation as a "small 153

commercial retail customer" if the customer consumes more than 15,000 kilowatt-154

hours of electricity in any calendar year after becoming a customer of the RES. In 155

determining whether a customer is a small commercial retail customer, usage by 156

the same commercial customer shall be aggregated to include usage at the same 157

premises even if measured by more than one meter and to include usage at 158

multiple premises. Nothing in this Part creates an affirmative obligation on an 159

electric utility to monitor or inform customers or RES as to a customer's status as 160

a small retail commercial retail customer as defined by this definition. Nothing in 161

this Part relieves an electric utility from any obligation to provide information 162

upon request to a customer, an RES, the Commission or others necessary to 163

determine whether a customer meets the classification of small commercial retail 164

customer. 165

166

"Third party verification" or "TPV" means the process described in Section 167

2EE(b) of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act [815 ILCS 168

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505/2EE(b)] and required to be used to verify that the customer wants to make a 169

change in electric supplier. The TPV shall not be described as having any other 170

purpose. 171

172

"time-of-use rate" means the charge for electric power and energy service changes 173

more than once per month. 174

175

"Transferred call" shall include any enrollment call in which the customer did not 176

directly dial an RES agent, including calls that originate as live or automated calls 177

to the customer who then might select an option that results in the call being 178

forwarded to an RES agent. "Transferred call" does not include enrollment calls 179

in which the customer directly dials an RES call center and selects to be 180

forwarded to an RES agent from a call center menu or live operator. Transferred 181

calls shall be treated as Telemarketing within the meaning of Section 412.130 for 182

purposes of enrollment compliance. 183

184

"Variable rate" means the charge for electric power and energy service changes at 185

any time during the term of the contract, but does not change more than once per 186

month. 187

188

"Written" or "in writing" means a hard copy. When this Part requires information 189

to be "written" or "in writing", an electronic copy satisfies that requirement so 190

long as both RES and customer have agreed to electronic communication. 191

192

(Source: Amended at 41 Ill. Reg. ______, effective ____________) 193

194

Section 412.15 Compliance 195 196

The Commission shall require implementation of each requirement on the first day of the month 197

following 6 months from the date of the Commission's final order, unless the Commission grants 198

an extension of time for cause. 199

200

(Source: Added at 41 Ill. Reg. ______, effective ____________) 201

202

Section 412.20 Waiver 203 204

a) The Commission, on application or petition of an RES or non-RES electric utility, 205

may grant a temporary or permanent waiver from this Part, or any applicable 206

subsections contained in this Part, in individual cases in which the Commission 207

finds: 208

209

1) the provision from which the waiver is granted is not statutorily mandated; 210

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211

2) no party will be injured by the granting of the waiver; and 212

213

3) the rule from which the waiver is granted would, as applied to the 214

particular case, be unreasonable or unnecessarily burdensome. 215

216

b) The burden of proof in establishing a right to a waiver shall be on the party 217

seeking the waiver. 218

219


221

Section 412.30 Construction of this Part (Repealed) 222

223 In the event of any conflict between this Part and the requirements provided in electric utility 224

tariffs on file with the Commission as of January 1, 2013, this Part shall control. Electric utility 225

tariffs approved after January 1, 2013 shall comply with this Part. 226

227

(Source: Repealed at 41 Ill. Reg. ______, effective ____________) 228

229

SUBPART B: MARKETING PRACTICES 230

231

Section 412.100 Application of Subpart B 232 233

a) The provisions of this Subpart shall only apply to an RES serving or seeking to 234

serve residential or small retail commercial retail customers, and only to the 235

extent that the an RES provides services to residential or small retail commercial 236

retail customers. 237

238

b) The following exceptions to Subpart B apply: Sections 412.170(a), (b) and (c) and 239

412.180 shall apply to an RES serving or seeking to serve any retail customer, 240

other than an RES certified under Subpart E of, or under the applicable of Subpart 241

B or C of, 83 Ill. Adm. Code 451, to serve only their own load, and/or the load of 242

a corporate affiliate and/or the load of an entity located on the site of a 243

manufacturing or refining facility of the RES or its affiliate, when fully integrated 244

into the existing electrical distribution system of the refining or manufacturing 245

facility. 246


248

Section 412.105 Use of Utility Logo and Name 249 250

a) An RES shall not utilize the logo of a public utility in any manner. 251

252

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b) An RES shall not utilize the name of a public utility in any manner that is 253

deceptive or misleading, including, but not limited to, implying or otherwise 254

leading a customer to believe that an RES is soliciting on behalf of or is an agent 255

of a utility when no such relationship exists. 256

257

c) An RES shall not utilize the name, or any other identifying insignia, graphics or 258

wording that has been used at any time to represent a public utility company or its 259

services, to identify, label or define any of its electric power and energy service 260

offers. 261

262


264

Section 412.110 Minimum Contract Terms and Conditions 265 266

The sales contract shall contain the disclosures specified in this Section in 12-point type size or 267

larger, in the order presented in this Section. The disclosures specified in this Section shall 268

appear at the beginning of the sales contract; no other contract terms shall precede these 269

disclosuresmust disclose the following information to the customer, regardless of the form of 270

marketing used. Any additionalThe sales contract language shallmust use 10-point type size or 271

larger, and, if it is a separate document, it must not exceed two pages in length. The sales 272

contract shall include the following disclosures: 273

274

a) The legal name of the RES and the name under which the RES will market its 275

products, if different; 276

277

b) The business address of the RES; 278

279

c) The RES' toll-free telephone number for billing questions, disputes and 280

complaints, as well as the Commission's toll-free phone number for complaints; 281

282

cd) The charges for the service for the termlength of the contract and, if any charges 283

are variable during the term of the contract, an explanation of how the variable 284

charges are determined; 285

286

d) For any product for which the price includes a fixed monthly charge, that does not 287

change with the customer's usage and does not include all supply and delivery 288

service charges, the RES shall provide an estimated total bill for electric service 289

using sample monthly usage levels of 500, 1,000 and 1,500 kilowatt-hours; 290

291

e) For any product offered at a fixed monthly charge that does not change with the 292

customer's usage and does not include all supply and delivery service charges, the 293

RES must provide a statement to the customer stating that the fixed monthly 294

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charge is not the total monthly amount for electric service and identifying which 295

charges are not included in the fixed monthly charge; 296

297

fe) The termlength of the contract, including any applicablepossible automatic 298

renewal clause disclosed in a manner consistent with this Part; 299

300

gf) Whether anThe presence or absence of early termination feefees or penalty will be 301

imposed for termination of the contract by the customer prior to the expiration of 302

its term and thepenalties, applicable amountamounts. If the early termination fee 303

or penalty is not a set amount, the RES shall disclose the manner in which that fee 304

will be calculated or the formula pursuant to which they are calculated; 305

306

hg) If the RES intends at any point during the term of the contract to seek a deposit or 307

prepayment from the customer, the RES shall identify whether and under what 308

circumstances a deposit or prepayment will be required, along with a disclosure of 309

the manner in which the deposit or prepayment will be calculated, and the 310

circumstances in which the deposit or prepayment will be refundedAny 311

requirement to pay a deposit for power and energy service, the estimated amount 312

of the deposit or basis on which it is calculated, when the deposit will be returned, 313

and if the deposit will accrue interest; 314

315

ih) Any fees assessed by the RES to a customer for switching to the RES; 316

317

ji) If an RES represents that a customer will realize savings under any conditions or 318

circumstances, the RES shall provide a written statement, in plain language, 319

describing the conditions or circumstances that must occur in order for the savings 320

to be realized. The statement shall disclose the entity or entities and price or 321

prices to which the RES is comparing its own offer for purposes of assessing or 322

calculating savingsThe name of the power and energy service for which the 323

customer is being solicited; 324

325

j) A statement that the customer may rescind the contract, by contacting the RES, 326

before the RES submits the enrollment request to the electric utility; 327

328

k) A statement that the customer may rescind the contract and the pending 329

enrollment, within 10 calendar days after the electric utility processes the 330

enrollment request, by contacting the RES. Residential customers may rescind 331

the contract and the pending enrollment by contacting either the RES or the 332

electric utility. The statement shall provide both toll-free phone numbers; 333

334

l) A statement that the RES is an independent seller of electric power and energy 335

service certified by the Illinois Commerce Commission and that the RESagent is 336

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not representing, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of, athe electric utility or a 337

utility program, a consumer group or consumer group program, or a, 338

governmental body or program of a governmental bodybodies (unless the RES 339

has entered into a contractual arrangement with the governmental body and has 340

been authorized by the governmental body to make the statements) or consumer 341

groups; 342

343

m) A statement that: 344

345

1) the electric utility remains responsible for the delivery of electricity power 346

and energy to the customer's premises and will continue to respond to any 347

service calls and emergencies; and that 348

349

2) the customer will receive written notification from the electric utility 350

confirming a switch of the customer's electricity supplierswitching to an 351

RES will not impact the customer's electric service reliability; and 352

353

n) The toll-free telephone numbers for the RES, the electric utility, and the 354

Commission's Consumer Services Division.A statement that the customer will 355

receive written notification from the electric utility confirming a switch of the 356

customer's power and energy supplier; 357

358

o) If savings are guaranteed under certain circumstances, the RES must provide a 359

written statement, in plain language, describing the conditions that must be 360

present in order for the savings to occur. In the case of telemarketing and in-361

bound enrollment calls, the statement shall be provided in accordance with 362

Sections 412.130(e) and 412.140(c); and 363

364

p) A price per kilowatt hour (kWh) for the power and energy service. If a product is 365

being offered at a fixed monthly charge that does not change with the customer's 366

usage and the fixed monthly charge does not include delivery service charges, the 367

RES must provide a statement to the customer that the fixed monthly charge is for 368

supply charges only and that it does not include delivery service charges and 369

applicable taxes; therefore, the fixed monthly charge is not the total monthly 370

amount for electric service. For any product that includes a fixed monthly charge 371

that does not change with the customer's usage and the fixed monthly charge does 372

not include delivery service charges, the RES must provide an estimated price per 373

kWh for the power and energy service using sample monthly usage levels of 500, 374

1000 and 1,500 kWh. 375

376


378

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Section 412.115 Uniform Disclosure Statement 379 380

a) All RES product offers for residential and small commercial customers require a 381

one-page Uniform Disclosure Statement (UDS) using the form in Appendix A. 382

383

1) All text in the UDS shall be printed in a 12-point type or larger. 384

385

2) The UDS may include a logo of the RES. 386

387

3) The UDS shall not contain any items other than those found in Appendix 388

A or described in this Section. 389

390

b) The disclosures in the UDS shall conform to Appendix A and shall include the 391

information listed in this subsection (b), in the order listed. 392

393

1) Name: The legal name of the RES and the name under which the RES will 394

market its products, if different. 395

396

2) Address: The RES' business address and internet address. 397

398

3) Phone: The RES' toll-free telephone number and hours of availability. 399

400

4) Price: The price in cents per kilowatt hour and the number of months the 401

price stays in effect. 402

403

A) If the price is a fixed monthly charge that does not change with the 404

customer's usage, the fixed monthly charge shall be shown in 405

dollar amounts instead. 406

407

B) If the price is a custom price, the UDS shall include the word 408

"custom" and the RES shall replace "custom" with the price 409

offered to a particular customer once the RES has determined the 410

custom price for the customer. 411

412

C) If the price is tied to a publicly available index or benchmark, the 413

UDS shall state the index or benchmark and include the phrase 414

"refer to contract". 415

416

D) If the price is a price that varies more than once a month, the UDS 417

shall include the phrase "time of use; refer to contract". 418

419

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5) Other Monthly Charges: If the price includes a fixed monthly charge that 420

does not change with the customer's usage, that charge shall be disclosed 421

in dollar amounts. 422

423

6) Total Price with Other Monthly Charges: If the price includes a fixed 424

monthly charge that does not change with the customer's usage, and the 425

fixed monthly charge does not include all supply and delivery service 426

charges, the UDS shall display the total price in cents per kilowatt hour at 427

sample usage levels of 500, 1,000 and 1,500 kilowatt hours. 428

429

7) Length of the Contract: The length of the contract in months. 430

431

8) Subsequent Prices after the Initial Price: If the price after the initial price 432

does not change for the remainder of the term of the contract, the UDS 433

shall state the price in cents per kilowatt hour and the number of months 434

that price will stay in effect. If the price after the initial price is a price that 435

includes a fixed monthly charge that does not change with the customer's 436

usage, and the charge does not include all supply and delivery service 437

charges, the UDS shall display the total price in cents per kilowatt hour at 438

sample usage levels of 500, 1,000 and 1,500 kilowatt hours. If the price 439

after the initial price is a rate that changes at any time, the UDS shall 440

include the following: "Variable. The variable rate may go up or down and 441

the rate may be higher or lower than the electric utility's rate during any 442

given period." If the price after the initial price is a variable rate, yet one 443

or both of the statements in the preceding sentence do not apply, the UDS 444

shall include the following: "Variable. Refer to contract". If the price is a 445

price that varies more than once a month, the UDS shall include the phrase 446

"time of use. Refer to contract". 447

448

9) Early Termination Fee: The UDS shall disclose the amount of the early 449

termination fee or penalty, if any. If the early termination fee or penalty is 450

not a set amount, the UDS shall disclose the manner in which the fee or 451

penalty will be calculated. 452

453

10) Contract Renewal: The UDS shall disclose whether the contract renews 454

automatically. 455

456

11) Rescission: The UDS shall include the following: "You have a right to 457

rescind (stop) your enrollment within 10 calendar days after your utility 458

has received your order to switch suppliers. You may call us at (insert 459

toll-free number) or your utility at (insert toll-free number) to rescind." 460

461

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12) Cancellation: The UDS shall include the following: "You also have the 462

right to terminate the contract without any termination fee or penalty if 463

you contact us at (insert toll-free number) within 10 business days after the 464

date of your first bill with charges from (RES name)." 465

466

13) Seller: The UDS shall include the following: "This is a sales solicitation 467

and the seller is (insert RES name), an independent retail electric supplier. 468

If you enter into a contract with the seller, you will be changing your retail 469

electric supplier. The seller is not endorsed by, representing, or acting on 470

behalf of, a utility or a utility program, a governmental body or a 471

governmental program, or a consumer group or a consumer group 472

program (unless the RES has entered into a contractual arrangement with 473

the governmental body and has been authorized by the governmental body 474

to make the statements)." 475

476

14) Questions/Information: The UDS shall include the following: "If you have 477

any questions or concerns about this sales solicitation, you may contact the 478

Illinois Commerce Commission's Consumer Services Division at 1-800-479

524-0795. For information about the electric supply price of your utility 480

and offers from other retail electric suppliers, please visit 481

PlugInIllinois.org." 482

483

15) Date of Solicitation: The UDS shall state the date the customer was 484

solicited. 485

486

16) Agent ID: The UDS shall include an agent ID. 487

488

17) Variable Rate Products: For a variable rate product, the UDS shall state 489

that the current rate per kilowatt hour price and a one-year price history, or 490

history for the life of the product, if it has been offered less than one year, 491

are available on the RES' website and at a toll-free number. An RES shall 492

not rename a product in order to avoid disclosure of price history. 493

494


496

Section 412.120 In-personDoor-to-Door Solicitation 497 498

a) An RES agent shall state that he or she represents an independent seller of electric 499

power and energy service certified by the Illinois Commerce Commission and. 500

An RES agent shall not state or otherwise imply that he or she is not employed 501

by, representing, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of, athe electric utility, or a 502

utility program, a consumer group or consumer group program, or a governmental 503

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body (unless the RES has entered into a contractual arrangement with the 504

governmental body and has been authorized by the governmental body to make 505

the statements), or a consumer group. 506

507

b) If any sales solicitation, agreement, contract or verification is translated into 508

another language and provided to a customer, all of the documents must be 509

provided to the customer in that other language. When it would be apparent to a 510

reasonable person that a customer's English language skills are insufficient to 511

allow the customer to understand and respond to the information conveyed by the 512

agent in English or when the customer or another person informs the agent of this 513

circumstance, the RES agent shall find another representative fluent in the 514

customer's language, use an interpreter, or terminate the in-person contact with 515

the customer. When the use of an interpreter is necessary, a form consistent with 516

Section 2N of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act must be 517

completed. 518

519

c) RES agents who engage in in-persondoor-to-door solicitation for the purpose of 520

selling electric power and energy service offered by the RES shall display 521

identification on an outer garment. This identification shall be visible at all times 522

and prominently display the following: 523

524

1) The RES agent's full name in reasonable size font; 525

526

2) An agent ID number; 527

528

32) A photograph of the RES agent; and 529

530

43) The trade name and logo of the RES the agent is representing. If the agent 531

is selling electric servicepower and energy services from multiple 532

RESsRES to the customer, the identification shall display the trade name 533

and logo of the agent, broker or consultant entity as that entity is defined 534

in Section 16-115C of the Act. 535

536

d) The RES agent shall leave the premises at the customer's, owner's or occupant's 537

request. In the absence of local ordinances or regulations, RESs and their agents 538

shall not conduct in-person solicitation at residential dwellings before 9:00 a.m. 539

and after 7:00 p.m. or civil dusk, whichever is earlier. 540

541

e) The RES agent shall ensure that, during the sales presentation to the customer, 542

verbally disclose the items listed in Section 412.110(a) and (c) through (n)items 543

(d) through (p) of the uniform disclosure statement (Section 412.110(d) through 544

(p)) are verbally disclosed to the customer unless the sales presentation is 545

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terminated by the customer before the disclosures are completed. An RES agent 546

may disclose the items in any order, provided thatas long as all applicable items 547

are explained to the customer during the sales presentation. 548

549

f) The RES agent shall require the customer to initial the RES agent's copy of the 550

uniform disclosure statement. A copy of the UDSuniform disclosure statement 551

described in Section 412.115 and Appendix A is to be left with the customer at 552

the conclusion of the visit unless a customer refuses to accept a copy. Nothing in 553

this subsection (f) prevents an RES agent from providing the UDS electronically 554

instead of in paper form to the customer upon request. The minimum list of items 555

to be included in the uniform disclosure statement is contained in Section 556

412.110. The RES agent shall also offer, at the time of the initiation of the 557

solicitation a business card or other material that lists the agent's name, 558

identification number and title, and the RES' name and contact information, 559

including telephone number. 560

561

g) In-person solicitations that lead to an enrollment require a Letter of Agency and a 562

third-party verification. The If a customer's enrollment is authorized by third 563

party verification during door-to-door solicitation, the third-party verification 564

shall obtain the customer's acknowledgementrequire the customer to verbally 565

acknowledge that he or she understands the disclosures required by Section 566

412.110(c) and (e) through (n). Each disclosure must be made individually to 567

obtain clear acknowledgement of each disclosure. The RES agent must be in a 568

location where he or she cannot hear the customer while the TPV is conducted. 569

The RES shall not approach the customer after the TPV for a period of 24 hours 570

unless contacted by the customer. 571

572

h) The RES agent shall not conduct any in-person solicitations at any building or 573

premises where any sign, notice or declaration of any description whatsoever is 574

posted that prohibits sales, marketing or solicitations.When it is apparent that a 575

customer's English language skills are insufficient to allow the customer to 576

understand and respond to the information conveyed by the agent in English or 577

when the customer or another person informs the agent of this circumstance, the 578

RES agent shall find another representative fluent in the customer's language, use 579

an interpreter, or terminate the in-person contact with the customer. When the use 580

of an interpreter is necessary, a form consistent with Section 2N of the Consumer 581

Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act must be completed. 582

583

i) The RES agent shall obtain consent to enter multi-unit residential 584

dwellingsbuildings. Consent obtained to enter a multi-unit dwelling building from 585

one prospective customer or occupant of the dwellingbuilding shall not constitute 586

consent to market to any other prospective customers in the dwellingbuilding 587

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without separate consent.Upon a customer's request, the RES shall refrain from 588

any further marketing to that customer. 589

590

j) Upon a customer's request, the RES shall not conduct any further marketing to 591

that customer until the customer requests to receive further marketing. The RES 592

shall notify its agents of a customer's request. 593

594

k) RESs shall perform criminal background checks on all employees and agents 595

engaged in in-person solicitation. The criminal background check shall be 596

performed by an independent contractor that is a licensed private detective or a 597

similarly qualified entity. The RES shall maintain a record confirming that the 598

independent contractor has performed a criminal background check has been 599

performed on its employees or agents in accordance with this subsection. 600

601


603

Section 412.130 Telemarketing 604 605

a) In addition to complying with the Telephone Solicitations Act [815 ILCS 413], an 606

RES agent who contacts customers by telephone for the purpose of selling electric 607

power and energy service shall provide the agent's name and, on request, the 608

identification number if the RES has assigned one to the agent. The RES agent 609

shall state that he or she represents an independent seller of electric power and 610

energy service, certified by the Illinois Commerce Commission. An RES agent 611

shall not state or otherwise imply that he or she is employed by, representing, 612

endorsed by, or acting on behalf of, athe electric utility or a utility program, a 613

consumer group or a consumer group program, or a governmental body or a 614

program of a governmental body (unless the RES has entered into a contractual 615

arrangement with the governmental body and has been authorized by the 616

governmental body to make the statements), or a consumer group. 617

618

b) When it would beis apparent to a reasonable person that a customer's English 619

language skills are insufficient to allow the customer to understand a telephone 620

solicitation in English, or and the customer or another person informs the agent of 621

this circumstance, the agent must transfer the customer to a representative who 622

speaks the customer's language, if such a representative is available, or terminate 623

the call. 624

625

c) An RES agent shall ensure that, during the sales presentation to the customer, 626

items (d) through (p) of the uniform disclosure statement (Section 412.110(d) 627

through (p)) are verbally make to the customer all disclosures required by Section 628

412.110(a) and (c) through (n) and any information included in the UDS required 629

15-0512

APPENDIX A

16

by Section 412.115 that is not included in Section 412.110(a) and (c) through 630

(n)disclosed to the customer, unless the sales presentation is terminated by the 631

customer before the disclosures are completed. An RES agent may disclose the 632

items in any order so long as all applicable items are explained to the customer 633

during the sales presentation. 634

635

d) Any telemarketing solicitations that lead to a telephone enrollment must be 636

recorded and retained for a minimum of two years or for the entire period a 637

customer takes service with the RES, whichever is longer. All telemarketing calls 638

that do not lead to a telephone enrollment, but last at least two minutes, shall be 639

recorded and retained for a minimum of six months. The recordings shall be 640

provided upon request to Commission Staff or a customer who has completed a 641

telephone enrollment.If an RES agent engages in telemarketing and third party 642

verification is used to authorize a customer's enrollment, the third party 643

verification must require the customer to verbally acknowledge that he or she 644

understands items (d) through (p) of the uniform disclosure statement in Section 645

412.110. 646

647

e) For telemarketing that leads to a completed telephone enrollment, a third party 648

verification must be used to authorize a customer's enrollment. The third party 649

verification must require the customer to verbally acknowledge that he or she 650

understands the disclosures required by Section 412.110(c) through (m). Each 651

item must be disclosed to the customer individually to obtain clear 652

acknowledgment of each disclosure. An RES agent initiating a 3-way conference 653

call or a call through an automated verification system shall drop off the call and 654

shall not participate in or listen to the call, but shall not cause the call to be 655

terminated once the 3-way connection has been established. 656

657

f) The UDSuniform disclosure statement and contract shallmust be sent to the 658

customer within three business days after the electric utility's confirmation to the 659

RES of an accepted enrollment. 660

661

g) Upon a customer's request, the RES shall refrain from any further marketing to 662

that customer. The RES shall notify its agents of a customer's request. 663

664


666

Section 412.140 Inbound Enrollment Calls 667 668

If a customer initiates a call to an RES agent in order to enroll for service, the agent must: 669

670

15-0512

APPENDIX A

17

a) The RES agent shall fully comply withFollow the requirements in Section 2EE of 671

the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. An RES agent shall 672

state that he or she represents an independent seller of electric power and energy 673

service certified by the Illinois Commerce Commission. An RES agent shall not 674

state or otherwise imply that he or she is employed by, representing, endorsed by, 675

or acting on behalf of, a utility or a utility program, a consumer group or 676

consumer group program, or a governmental body (unless the RES has entered 677

into a contractual arrangement with the governmental body and has been 678

authorized by the governmental body to make the statements); 679

680

b) The RES agent shall verbally make to the customer the disclosures required by 681

Section 412.110(a) and (c) through (n)Verbally disclose to the customer items (d) 682

through (p) of the uniform disclosure statement (Section 412.110(d) through (p)). 683

An RES agent may disclose the items in any order so long as all applicable items 684

are explained to the customer during the sales presentation; and 685

686

c) All inbound enrollment calls that lead to an enrollment shall be recorded, and the 687

recordings shall be retained for a minimum of two years or the length of the 688

customer's service with the RES, whichever is longer. An inbound enrollment call 689

that does not lead to an enrollment but lasts at least two minutes shall be retained 690

for a minimum of six months. The recordings shall be provided upon request to 691

Commission Staff or a customer who has completed a telephone enrollment; 692

693

d) A third party verification must be used to authorize a customer's enrollment. The 694

third party verification must require the customer to verbally acknowledge that he 695

or she understands the disclosures required by Section 412.110(a) and (c) through 696

(n) and any information included in the UDS required by Section 412.115 that is 697

not included in Section 412.110(a) and (c) through (n). Each item must be 698

disclosed to the customer individually, requiring acknowledgment of each 699

disclosure. An RES agent initiating a 3-way conference call or a call through an 700

automated verification system shall drop off the call and not participate in or 701

listen to the call, but shall not cause the call to be terminated once the 3-way 702

connection has been established; and 703

704

ec) The RES shall sendSend the UDSuniform disclosure statement and contract to the 705

customer within three business days after the electric utility's confirmation to the 706

RES of an accepted enrollment. 707

708


710

Section 412.150 Direct Mail 711 712

15-0512

APPENDIX A

18

a) If an RES agent contactsagents contacting customers for enrollment for electric 713

power and energy service by direct mail, the direct mail material shall include all 714

the disclosures required initems of the uniform disclosure statement (Section 715

412.110) for the service being solicited. Statements in directDirect mail material 716

shall not claim that the RES agent represents, is endorsedmake any statements of 717

representation of, endorsement by, or is acting on behalf of, athe electric utility or 718

a utility program, a consumer group or program, or, a governmental body or 719

program (unless the RES has entered into a contractual arrangement with the 720


the statements) or a consumer group. 722

723

b) If a direct mail solicitation includes a written Letter of Agency, the direct mail 724

solicitation shall include the items listed in Section 412.110(a) and (c) through (i) 725

and also the UDS described in Section 412.115. The UDS shall be provided on a 726

separate page from the other marketing materials included in the direct mail 727

solicitation. If a written LOALetter of Agency is being used to authorize a 728

customer's enrollment, it the written LOA shall comply with Section 2EE of the 729

Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and shall contain a 730

statement that the customer has read and understood each of the disclosures 731

required by Section 412.110(a), (c) and (e) through (m)the items contained in the 732

uniform disclosure statement in Section 412.110. The documentsdocument 733

containing the Section 412.110 disclosures anditems of the UDSuniform 734

disclosure statement must remain with the customer. 735

736

c) If the direct mail solicitation allows a customer to enroll by telephone, and the 737

customer elects to do so, Section 412.140 shall apply. If the direct mail 738

solicitation allows a customer to enroll online, and the customer elects to do so, 739

Section 412.160 shall apply. 740

741

dc) A copy of the contract must be sent to the customer within three business days 742

after the electric utility's confirmation to the RES of an accepted enrollment. 743

744


746

Section 412.160 Online Marketing 747 748

a) Each RES offering electric power and energy service to customers online shall 749

clearly and conspicuously make all disclosures required by Section 750

412.110display the items of the uniform disclosure statement (Section 412.110) 751

for any services offered through online enrollment before requiring the customer 752

to enter any personal information other than zip code, electric utility service 753

territory, and/or type of service sought, unless the RES secures consent to obtain 754

15-0512

APPENDIX A

19

customer-specific information for the purposes of pricing a product though a letter 755

of agency or another Commission-approved method. The RES's marketingRES 756

internet and electronic material shall not make any statements that it is a 757

representativeof representation of, endoresedendorsement by, or acting on behalf 758

of, athe electric utility or a utility program, a consumer group or a program run 759

by a consumer group, a governmental body or a program run by a governmental 760

body (unless the RES has entered into a contractual arrangement with the 761


the statements) or a consumer group. 763

764

b) The UDSdocument containing the items of the uniform disclosure statement must 765

be printable in a PDF format not to exceed two pages in length and shall be 766

available electronically to the customer. 767

768

c) The RES shall obtain, in accordance with 83 Ill. Adm. Code 453 and Section 769

2EE(b) of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, an 770

authorization to change RES that confirms and includes appropriate verification 771

data by encrypted customer input on the RES website. 772

773

d) The enrollment website of the RES shall, at a minimum, include: 774

775

1) All disclosures required by items within the uniform disclosure statement 776

(Section 412.110); 777

778

2) A statement that electronic acceptance of the terms is an agreement to 779

initiate service and begin enrollment; 780

781

3) A statement that the customer should review the contract and/or contact 782

the current supplier to learn if any early termination fees are applicable; 783

and 784

785

4) An e-mail address and toll-free phone number of the RES where the 786

customer can express a decision to rescind the contract. 787

788


790

Section 412.165 Rate Notice to Customers 791 792

a) At least 30 days prior to the start of a calendar monthbilling cycle, each RES shall 793

make available on its website, or through the customer's account login, the 794

variable and time-of-use rates for its residential customers applicable for that 795

billing cycle. If the billing cycle does not match the calendar month, the dates that 796

15-0512

APPENDIX A

20

the rates will be in effectThe RES must disclose the one-month period to which 797

the rates will apply. In addition, each RES shall provide the rate information to its 798

variable and time-of-use rate customers who request it through the RES's toll-free 799

number. The customer's contract shall contain the website address and toll-free 800

phone number for the customer to obtain variable and time-of-use rate 801

information in accordance with this Section. 802

803

b) If the RES uses the utility's single bill pursuant to Section 16-118(d) of the Act to 804

bill its residential variable or time-of-use rate customers, the RES shall use the 805

allotted space on the bill to disclose the customer's variable or time-of-use rate 806

that is in effect at the time the bill is received by the customer and the percentage 807

change, if any, of the variable or time-of-use rate from one monthly billing period 808

to the next. When there is insufficient available allotted space on the bill for the 809

RES to make these disclosures each month, the RES shall ensure that no 810

residential variable or time-of-use rate customer receives consecutive monthly 811

bills that fail to disclose upcoming variable or time-of-use rates in the bill's 812

message section. If the RES bills its residential variable or time-of-use rate 813

customers directly, the RES shall ensure that those customers' bills always contain 814

the variable or time-of-use rate information described in this Section. If the 815

electric utility's implementation of Section 16-118(d) prevents an RES from 816

complying with this Section, the RES shall be required to include a bill message 817

that contains the toll-free phone number and/or website address where the 818

variable or time-of-use rate information can be obtained by the customer. The 819

requirements of this subsection to provide notifications in customer bills do not 820

apply if the RES sends the notifications required by this subsection via a written 821

communication sent at the same time as the customer's monthly bill. 822

823

c) If a residential variable rate customer's rate increases by more than 20% from one 824

monthly billing period to the next, the RES shall send a separate written notice to 825

the customer, informing the customer of the upcoming rate change. 826

827

d) Subsections (a) through (c) shall not apply to contracts which disclose the formula 828

that will allow a customer to determine the variable or time-of-use rate based on a 829

publicly available index or benchmark. For contracts for which Subsections (a) 830

through (c) are not applicable: 831

832

1) The RES shall provide sufficient information on its website to identify the 833

inputs to the formula used to calculate the variable or time-of-use rate, 834

including the timing and location of the index or benchmark price, if any, 835

and any other information necessary to calculate the rate; 836

837

15-0512

APPENDIX A

21

2) The RES shall provide clear and unambiguous information on the index or 838

benchmark and any risks represented by the potential volatility (price 839

spikes) involved in the rate 840

841

3) Notice of the rates shall be available on the RES’s website and by toll-free 842

telephone as soon as reasonably practicable; and 843

844

4) For time-of-use rates, high price notifications shall be given when the rate 845

meets or exceeds a level set by the customer; notice shall be given as soon 846

as practicable by telephone, email, or text message, as authorized by the 847

customer. 848

849

e) If a contract includes a provision that results in a change to the residential 850

customer's rate plan, the RES shall send a separate written notice of the upcoming 851

change at least 30 days, but no more than 60 days, prior to the switch. The 852

separate written notice shall include: 853

854

1) A statement printed or visible from the outside of the envelope or in the 855

subject line of the e-mail (if customer has agreed to receive official 856

documents by e-mail) that states "Upcoming Rate Plan Change"; 857

858

2) The bill cycle in which the price changes to the rate plan canwill begin; 859

and 860

861

3) A statement in bold lettering, in at least 12-point type, that the rate can 862

change for the remainder of the contract. If the customer is eligible for one 863

or more fixed rate offers from the RES, the RES shall include information 864

about those offers, including information explaining how to enroll in the 865

offers. The notice shall advise the customer as to whether the customer is 866

subject to an early termination fee after the switch and, if so, the amount 867

of the fee. If the customer is not subject to an early termination fee after 868

the switch to a price that can change, the notice shall so advise the 869

customer. 870

871

f) An RES that currently enrolls residential customers on a variable or time-of-use 872

rate for three consecutive months in any electric utility's service territory must, for 873

a variable or time-of-use price product, disclose on the RES's website and through 874

a toll-free number the one-year price history, or history for the life of the product 875

if it has been offered less than one year. An RES shall not rename a product in 876

order to avoid disclosure of price history. 877

878

15-0512

APPENDIX A

22

g) If the contract includes a rate that changes, or has the potential to change, more 879

than once a month (i.e. time-of-use rate) and if the specific prices per kWh for the 880

duration of the contract are not specified in the contract, subsection (a) through (f) 881

apply, but: 882

883

1) The written notice in subsection (c) is required if a change in the time-of-884

use rate structure leads to a 20% or greater increase in an estimated bill for the 885

customer’s next billing cycle based on a reasonable proxy of that customer’s 886

usage patterns for the upcoming billing cycle without any modifications to the 887

customer’s consumption patterns. 888

889

2) The subsection (f) disclosures shall include an example of monthly bills 890

paid by a reasonable proxy of that customer’s usage pattern. 891

h) Subsections (a) through (d) and subsection (f) do not apply to time-of-use rates 892

where the timing and price per kWh for the duration of the contract are clearly 893

and unambiguously specified in the contract. 894

895

896


898

Section 412.170 Conduct, Training and Compliance of RES Agents 899 900

a) An RES agent shall be knowledgeable of the requirements applicable to the 901

marketing and sale of power and energy service to the customer class that he or 902

she is targeting. In addition to this Part, requirements pertaining to the marketing 903

and sales of power and energy service may be found in other rules, the Act and 904

the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. 905

906

b) All RES agents should be familiar with electricity power and energy services that 907

they sell, including the rates, payment and billing options, the customers' right to 908

cancel, and applicable termination fees, if any. In addition, the RES agents shall 909

have the ability to provide the customer with a toll-free number for billing 910

questions, disputes and complaints, as well as the Commission's toll-free phone 911

number for complaints. 912

913

c) RES agents shall not utilize false, misleading, materially inaccurate or otherwise 914

deceptive language or materials in soliciting or providing services. 915

916

d) No RES agent shall make a record of a customer's account number unless the 917

customer has agreed to enroll with the RES or otherwise provided his or her 918

15-0512

APPENDIX A

23

consent to the release of that information in accordance with Commission orders 919

and rules, except where the recording of this information is required in Sections 920

412.130 and 412.140. 921

922

e) All RES agents shall complete a uniform training program which covers the 923

applicable Sections of this Code Part. The RES shall document the training of its 924

agents and provide a certification to the Commission showing that an agent 925

completed the training program prior to an agent being eligible to market or sell 926

electricity in Illinois. The RES shall maintain records of certificates for three 927

years from the date the training was completed. Upon request by the Commission 928

or Commission Staff, an RES shall provide training materials and training records 929

within seven business days. 930

931

f) When an RES contracts with an independent contractor or vendor to perform 932

marketing or sales activities solicit customers on the RES' behalf, the RES shall 933

confirm that the contractor or vendor has provided training in accordance with 934

this Section. 935

936

g) All RESs shall monitor marketing and sales activities to ensure that RES agents 937

are providing accurate and complete information and complying with all laws and 938

regulations. 939

940


942

Section 412.180 Records Retention and Availability 943 944

a) An RES must retain, for a minimum of two years or for the entire period the 945

customer takes service from the RESlength of the contract, whichever is longer, 946

verifiable proof of authorization to change suppliers for each customer. Upon 947

request by the Commission or Commission Staff, the RES shall provide 948

authorization records within seven business days. 949

950

b) For the period the customer takes service from the RESThroughout the duration 951

of the contract, and for two years thereafter, the RES shall retain the customer's 952

contract. Upon the customer's request, the RES shall provide the customer a copy 953

of the contract via e-mail, U.S. mail or facsimile within seven business days. The 954

RES shall not charge a fee for the copies if a customer requests fewer than three 955

copies in a 12-month period. 956

957


959

Section 412.190 Renewable Energy Product Descriptions 960

15-0512

APPENDIX A

24

961

a) No RES shall state or imply in any marketing or promotional material that any 962

electricOnly power and energy service marketed or sold by the RES is "green", 963

"renewable", or "environmentally friendly" or provide any description that 964

conveys the impression that the electric power and energy service has a reduced 965

impact on the environment, unless the RES purchases and retires the appropriate 966

number of RECs in addition to, and over and above, the power or renewable 967

energy credits purchased, or the alternative compliance payments made, to satisfy 968

that includes power and energy purchased entirely separate and apart from the 969

renewable portfolio standard requirements applicable to RESsRES under Section 970

16-115D of the Act can be marketed as "green", "renewable energy" or 971

"environmentally friendly". Nothing in this subsection prevents an RES from 972

stating that it complies with the Illinois Renewable Portfolio Standard if in fact it 973

does so, but these statements must also disclose that all RESs must comply with 974

the Renewable Portfolio Standard because it is required by law. An RES shall not 975

identify its product as "green", "renewable", or use any other term or descriptor of 976

like or similar meaning if it is only compliant with the RPS. 977

978

b) An RES marketing "green", "renewable" or "environmentally friendly" electricity 979

offers, or other offers of any description that convey the impression that the 980

electric power and energy service has a reduced impact on the environment, in 981

compliance with subsection (a) of this Section, shall comply with the following: 982

983

1) disclose, on all materials used in the marketing of these offers and on its 984

website, the following informationtotal electricity that will be used to 985

supply the customer: 986

987

A) the total percentage of electricity power and energy represented by 988

subsections (b)(1)(B) and (b)(1)(C); 989

990

B) of the total electric power and energy used to supply customers 991

pursuant to the offer, the percentage of electricity paired with 992

RECs required to satisfy the RPS if greater than zero (accompanied 993

by the RPS disclaimer language in subsection (a)); 994

995

C) of the total electric power and energy used to supply customers 996

pursuant to the offer, the percentage of electricity paired with 997

renewable energy resources through RECs in addition to, and over 998

and above, the RPS; 999

1000

D) the renewable energy resource type mix (i.e., corresponding 1001

percentage of each resource, such as X% wind, X% solar, etc.), of 1002

15-0512

APPENDIX A

25

the RECs that were paired with the electric power and energy used 1003

in supplying electricity to customers pursuant to each offer; 1004

1005

2) disclose on all materials used in the marketing of these offers and on its 1006

website the percentage of electricity paired with renewable energy 1007

resources through RECs generated in the State of Illinois that will be used 1008

in supplying the electricity to customers pursuant to each offer; 1009

1010

3) if an RES cannot comply with subsections (b)(1)(D) and/or (b)(2) because 1011

it has not committed to particular renewable energy resources and/or has 1012

not committed to a particular location or locations of renewable energy 1013

resources at the time it markets the offers, the RES shall disclose this fact 1014

in marketing materials and on its website. If the electricity product has 1015

been offered for 12 months or more, the RES shall disclose the renewable 1016

energy resource mix (and corresponding percentages of each resource) and 1017

percentage of electricity paired with renewable energy resources through 1018

RECs generated in the State of Illinois for the electricity product for the 1019

previous year. If the electricity product has been offered for fewer than 12 1020

months, the RES must disclose the renewable energy resource mix (and 1021

corresponding percentages of each resource) and percentage of electricity 1022

paired with renewable energy resources through RECs generated in the 1023

State of Illinois that it intends tomay purchase for the electricity product; 1024

1025

4) the disclosures required in subsections (b)(1) through (b)(3) shall also 1026

apply to offers posted by an RES on the Commission's PlugInIllinois.org 1027

website; 1028

1029

5) within 14 months after enrolling a customer on a "green", "renewable" or 1030

"environmentally friendly" offer or offers of any description that conveys 1031

the impression that the electric power and energy service has a reduced 1032

impact on the environment, and annually thereafter, the RES shall: 1033

1034

A) provide the customer with a written disclosure of the following 1035

information for theactual electricity power and energy used to 1036

supply of the customer: 1037

1038

i) of the customer’s total electric power and energy usage, the 1039

total percentage of electricity represented by subsections 1040

(b)(5)(BA)(ii) and (b)(5)(CA)(iii); 1041

1042

ii) of the customer’s total electric power and energy usage, the 1043

percentage of electricity paired with RECs required to 1044

15-0512

APPENDIX A

26

satisfy the RPS if greater than zero (accompanied by the 1045

RPS disclaimer language in subsection (a)); 1046

1047

iii) of the customer’s total electric power and energy usage, the 1048

percentage of electricity paired with renewable energy 1049

resources through RECs in addition to, and over and above, 1050

the RPS; 1051

1052

iv) the renewable energy resource type mix (i.e., corresponding 1053

percentage of each resource, such as X% wind, X% solar, 1054

etc.) and locations (at a minimum by state) of the 1055

RECsrenewable energy resources that were paired with 1056

electricity used byprocured to serve the customer; and 1057

1058

B) upon request, provide Commission Staff with the disclosure 1059

referenced in this subsection (b)(5)(A) for each offer. In addition, 1060

the RES shall provide verification of the information provided 1061

pursuant to this Section to Commission Staff upon request; 1062

1063

6) upon request of Commission Staff, the RES shall provide verification that 1064

the renewable energy credits claimed have been retired; and 1065

1066

7) the annual disclosure requirement of subsection (b)(5) shall apply to 1067

"green", "renewable" or "environmentally friendly" claims from RESs 1068

serving customers in municipal aggregation programs. 1069

1070

c) For any electric power and energy service marketed or sold by an RES that is 1071

described as "green", "renewable" or "environmentally friendly", or by any term 1072

or descriptor of like or similar meaning, the RES shall retire the appropriate 1073

number of RECs. A REC used to support a "green", "renewable", etc., marketing 1074

claim must be generated either in the same year in which it is retired or during the 1075

two years immediately preceding the year in which it is retired. 1076

1077


1079

SUBPART C: RESCISSION, DEPOSITS, EARLY TERMINATION 1080

AND AUTOMATIC CONTRACT RENEWAL 1081

1082

Section 412.200 Application of Subpart C 1083 1084

The provisions of this Subpart shall only apply to an RES serving or seeking to serve residential 1085

or small commercial retail customers and only to the extent the RES provide services to 1086

15-0512

APPENDIX A

27

residential or small commercial retail customers. In addition, Section 412.210 shall apply to 1087

non-RES electric utilities. 1088

1089


1091

Section 412.210 Rescission of Sales Contract 1092

1093 a) The customer has the ability to rescind the contract with the RES before the RES 1094

submits the enrollment request to the electric utility. Within one business day 1095

after processing a valid electronic enrollment request from the RES, the electric 1096

utility shall notify the customer in writing of the scheduled enrollment and 1097

provide the name of the RES that will be providing electric power and energy 1098

service. The written enrollment notice from the electric utility shall state the last 1099

day to make a request rescinding the enrollment and provide contact information 1100

for the RES. The written enrollment notice from the electric utility shall also 1101

provide information regarding the customer's rights under this Section if the 1102

enrollment has been made in error or without the customer's consent, including 1103

contact information for the utility and the Commission. 1104

1105

b) A residential customer wishing to rescind the pending enrollment with the RES 1106

will not incur any early termination fees if the customer contacts either the 1107

electric utility or the RES within 10 calendar days after the electric utility 1108

processes the enrollment request or, upon request by the customer, if the RES is 1109

unable to provide verifiable proof of the authorization of enrollment. 1110

1111

c) A small commercial retail customer wishing to rescind the pending enrollment 1112

with the RES will not incur any early termination fees if the customer contacts the 1113

RES within 10 calendar days after the electric utility processes the enrollment 1114

request. 1115

1116

d) If the 10th calendar day falls on a non-business day, the rescission period will be 1117

extended through the next business day. 1118

1119

e) In the event the residential customer provides notice of rescission to the electric 1120

utility, the electric utility shall notify the RES within one business day after 1121

processing a valid rescission request from the customer. 1122

1123


1125

Section 412.220 Deposits 1126 1127

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APPENDIX A

28

Any other provision of this Part notwithstanding, anAn RES shall not require a customer deposit 1128

if the RES is selling the receivables for electricity power and energy for that customer to the 1129

electric utility pursuant to Section 16-118(c) of the Act. 1130

1131


1133

Section 412.230 Early Termination of Sales Contract 1134

1135 Any contract between an RES and a customer that contains an early termination fee shall 1136

disclose the amount of the early termination fee or the formula used to calculate the termination 1137

fee and comply with Section 16-119 of the Act. Any early termination fee or penalty shall not 1138

exceed $50 for residential customers and $150 for small commercial retail customers. The caps 1139

on early termination fees and penalties apply only to early termination fees and penalties for 1140

early termination of electric service. [220 ILCS 5/16-119] Any contract containing an early 1141

termination fee shall provide the customer the opportunity to contact the RES to terminate the 1142

contract without any termination fee or penalty within 10 business days after the date of the first 1143

bill issued to the customer for products or services provided by the RES. A customer relying on 1144

this provision to avoid an early termination fee shall be precluded from relying upon this 1145

provision for 12 months following the date the customer terminated his or her sales contract. 1146

The contract shall disclose the opportunity and provide a toll-free phone number that the 1147

customer may call in order to terminate the contract. This requirement does not relieve the 1148

customer of obligations to pay for services rendered under the contract until service is 1149

terminated. 1150

1151


1153

Section 412.240 Contract Renewal 1154 1155

a) Non-Automatic Renewal. The RES shall clearly and conspicuously disclose any 1156

renewal terms in its contracts, including any cancellation procedure. For 1157

contracts with an initial term of six months or more, the RES shall send a notice 1158

of contract expiration separate from the bill at least 30 but no more than 60 days 1159

prior to the date of contract expiration. Nothing in this Section shall preclude an 1160

RES from offering a new contract to the customer at any other time during the 1161

contract period. If the customer enters into a new contract prior to the end of the 1162

contract expiration notice period, the notice of contract expiration under this 1163

Section is not required. The separate written notice of contract expiration shall 1164

include: 1165

1166



documents by e-mail) that states "Contract Expiration Notice"; 1169

15-0512

APPENDIX A

29

1170

2) The anticipated bill cycle in which the existing contract will expire; 1171

1172

3) A full description of the renewal offer, including the date service would 1173

begin under the new offer, if a renewal offer was provided. If the new 1174

contract's terms differ from the existing contract, the RES shall include a 1175

side-by-side comparison UDS identifying the existing terms and the new 1176

terms as well as a side-by-side comparison of the material changes 1177

between the existing contract and the new contract; and 1178

1179

4) A statement, in at least 12-point font, that the customer must provide 1180

affirmative consent to accept the renewal offer, that establishing service 1181

with another RES can take up to 45 days, and that failure to renew the 1182

existing contract or switch to another RES may result in the customer 1183

being reverted to the electric utility default service. The statement shall 1184

provide the length of the electric utility tariff minimum stay period, if 1185

applicable. 1186

1187

b) Automatic Renewal. In addition to complying with the Illinois Automatic 1188

Renewal Act [815 ILCS 601], the RES shall clearly and conspicuously disclose 1189

any renewal terms in its contracts, including any cancellation procedure. For 1190

contracts with an initial term of six months or more, and when the contract 1191

automatically renews for a specified term of more than one month, the RES shall 1192

send a notice of contract renewal separately from the bill at least 30 days but no 1193

more than 60 days prior to the end of the initial contract term. Nothing in this 1194

Section shall preclude an RES from offering a new contract to the customer at any 1195

other time during the contract period. If the customer enters into a new contract 1196

prior to the end of the contract expiration notice period, the notice of contract 1197

expiration under this Section is not required. The separate written notice of 1198

contract renewal shall include: 1199

1200



documents by e-mail) that states "Contract Renewal Notice"; 1203

1204

2) The bill cycle in which service under the new term will begin; 1205

1206

3) A statement in bold lettering, in at least 12-point font, that the contract 1207

will automatically renew unless the customer cancels it, including the 1208

information needed to cancel; 1209

1210

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APPENDIX A

30

4) If the new contract term includes a termination fee, a statement that the 1211

customer has until the end of the existing contract term to reject the new 1212

contract in order to avoid termination fees under the new contractIf the 1213

new contract term includes a termination fee, a statement that the customer 1214

has from the date of the contract renewal notice through the end of the 1215

existing contract term to notify the RES of his or her rejection of the new 1216

contract term to avoid incurring a termination fee under the new contract 1217

term; and 1218

1219

5) A clear and conspicuous disclosure of the contract terms, including a full 1220

description of any renewal offers available to the customer. If the new 1221

contract's terms differ from the existing contract, the RES shall include a 1222

side-by-side comparison of the existing terms and UDS which identifies 1223

the new terms, as well as a side-by-side comparison of the material 1224

changes between the existing contract and the new contract. 1225

1226

c) In addition to the written notice required by Section 412.165(e), uUnless the 1227

customer has no phone number on record with the RES, the RES shall call the 1228

customer at least 30 days, but no more than 60 days, prior to the end of the initial 1229

contract term. The call may be live or automated and it shall provide the 1230

information required in subsections (b)(2) through (b)(5) in addition to notice of 1231

the impending end of the initial contract term, as well as any material changes to 1232

the contract, including, at least: contract rates and/or an explanation of how the 1233

rate is calculated and how often it changes, length of contract, renewable 1234

attributes, early termination fee, type of contract renewal, and any other charges 1235

or fees. The RES shall also refer the customer to the written notices sent pursuant 1236

to subsections (a)(1) through (a)(4) and (b)(1) through (b)(5). A second call shall 1237

be required within 14 days after the first call if the first call does not reach a 1238

person or an answering service. The RES agent shall provide the customer with 1239

the toll-free number that the customer may use to contact the RES to discuss the 1240

automatic renewal. Calls made pursuant to this subsection shall be recorded and 1241

retained for a minimum of two years or for the entire period a customer takes 1242

service with the RES, whichever is longer. The recordings shall be provided upon 1243

request to Commission Staff or a customer who has completed a telephone 1244

enrollment.The RES shall make a record of the date and time of the calls and its 1245

success or failure in reaching the customer. The RES shall also comply with the 1246

requirements of Section 412.130 . 1247

1248


1250

Section 412.250 Assignment 1251 1252

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APPENDIX A

31

If an RES is surrendering or otherwise cancelling its certificate of service authority or is no 1253

longer seeking to serve certain customers, the RES shall not assign the contract to a different 1254

RES unless: 1255

1256

a) The new supplier is an RES; 1257

1258

b) The new RES is in compliance with all applicable requirements of the 1259

Commission and the electric utility to provide electric service; 1260

1261

c) The rates, terms and conditions of the contract being assigned do not change 1262

during the remainder of the time period covered by the contract; provided, 1263

however, the assigned contract may be modified during the term of the contract if 1264

the new RES and the retail customer mutually agree to the changes or revisions of 1265

the contract after assignment of the contract and so long as the customer is 1266

provided the disclosures described in Section 412.110; 1267

1268

d) The customer is given 15 calendar days'days prior written notice of the 1269

assignment by the current RES; and 1270

1271

e) Within 30 days after Prior to the assignment, the new RES provides the customer 1272

with a toll-free phone number for billing questions, disputes and complaints. 1273

1274


1276

SUBPART D: DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND CUSTOMER COMPLAINT REPORTS 1277

1278

Section 412.300 Application of Subpart D 1279 1280

The provisions of this Subpart shall only apply to an RES serving or seeking to serve residential 1281

or small commercial retail customers and only to the extent the RES providesprovide services to 1282

residential or small commercial retail customers. In addition, Section 412.320(c)(1)(B) and 1283

(c)(1)(E) shall apply to non-RES electric utilities. 1284

1285


1287

Section 412.310 Required RES Information 1288 1289

a) Prior to the RES initiating marketing to residential and small commercial retail 1290

customers, and annually thereafter, the RES shall provide the following to the 1291

Commission's Consumer Services Division (CSD): 1292

1293

15-0512

APPENDIX A

32

1) A copy of its bill formats (if it bills customers directly rather than using 1294

electric utility consolidated billing) (combined billing for RES services 1295

and electric utility services); 1296

1297

2) Standard customer contract; 1298

1299

3) Customer complaint and resolution procedures; and 1300

1301

4) The name, telephone number and e-mail address of the company 1302

representative whom Commission employees may contact to resolve 1303

customer complaints and other matters. 1304

1305

b) The RES must file updated information within 10 business days after changes in 1306

any of the documents or information required to be filed by this Section. 1307

1308

c) If the RES has declared force majeure within the past 10 years on any contracts to 1309

deliver electricpower and energy services, the RES shall provide notice to the 1310

Commission Staff prior to marketing to residential and small commercial retail 1311

customers. 1312

1313


1315

Section 412.320 Dispute Resolution 1316 1317

a) A residential or small commercial retail customer has the right to make a formal 1318

or informal complaint to the Commission, and an RES contract cannot impair this 1319

right. 1320

1321

b) A customer or prospective customerapplicant for electric power and energy 1322

service may submit a complaint by U.S. mail, facsimile transmission, e-mail or 1323

telephone to an RES. The RES shall promptly investigate and advise the 1324

complainant of the results within 14 calendar days. If the RES responds to the 1325

customer's or prospective customer's complaint verbally, the RES shall inform the 1326

customer or prospective customer of the ability to request and obtain the RES' 1327

response in writing. When the RES responds, aA customer or prospective 1328

customerwho is dissatisfied with the RES' response shall be informed of the right 1329

to file a complaint with the Commission and the Office of the Illinois Attorney 1330

General. 1331

1332

c) Complaints to the Commission 1333

1334

1) Informal Complaints (see 83 Ill. Adm. Code 200.160) 1335

15-0512

APPENDIX A

33

1336

A) TheIf a complainant is dissatisfied with the results of an RES' 1337

complaint investigation, the RES shall inform the complainant of 1338

his/her ability to file an informal complaint with the Commission's 1339

Consumer Services Division (CSD) and provide contact 1340

information for the CSD. Informal complaints may be filed with 1341

the CSD by phone, via the internet, by fax, or by mail. Information 1342

required to process a customer's informal complaint includes: 1343

1344

i) The customer's name, mailing and service addresses, and 1345

telephone number; 1346

1347

ii) The name of the RES; 1348

1349

iii) The customer's electric utility and RES account numbers; 1350

1351

iv) An explanation of the facts relevant to the complaint; 1352

1353

v) The complainant's requested resolution; and 1354

1355

vi) Any documentation that supports the complaint, including 1356

copies of bills or terms of service documents. 1357

1358

B) The Commission's CSD may resolve an informal complaint via 1359

phone by completing a three-way call involving the customer, the 1360

CSD staff and the RES. If no resolution is reached by phone and a 1361

dispute remains, an informal complaint may be sent to the RES. In 1362

the case of the electric utility purchasing the RES' receivables or 1363

electric utility consolidated billing, the RES shall notify the electric 1364

utility of any informal complaint received and the electric utility 1365

shall follow the procedures outlined in its billing service agreement 1366

with the RES to withhold collection activity on disputed RES 1367

charges on the customer's bill. 1368

1369

C) The RES shall investigate all informal complaints and advise the 1370

CSD in writing of the results of the investigation within 14 days 1371

after the informal complaint is forwarded to the RES. 1372

1373

D) The CSD shall review the complaint information and the RES' 1374

response and notify the complainant of the results of the 1375

Commission's investigation. 1376

1377

15-0512

APPENDIX A

34

E) While an informal complaint process is pending: 1378

1379

i) The RES (or the electric utility in the case of the electric 1380

utility having purchased the RES' receivables) shall not 1381

initiate collection activities for any disputed portion of the 1382

bill until the Commission Staff has closedtaken final action 1383

on the informal complaint; and 1384

1385

ii) A customer shall be obligated to pay any undisputed 1386

portion of the bill and the RES (or the electric utility in the 1387

case of the electric utility purchasing the RES' receivables 1388

or the utility presenting the RES' charges on a consolidated 1389

bill) may pursue collection activity for nonpayment of the 1390

undisputed portion after appropriate notice. 1391

1392

F) The RES shall keep a record for two years after closure by the 1393

CSD of all informal complaints. This record shall show the name 1394

and address of the complainant and the date and nature and 1395

adjustment or disposition of the informal complaint. 1396

1397

2) Formal Complaints. If the complainant is not satisfied with the results of 1398

the informal complaint process, the complainant may file a formal 1399

complaint with the Commission pursuant to Section 10-101 of the Act and 1400

83 Ill. Adm. Code 200.170. 1401

1402

3) Disclosure of RES' Level of Customer Complaints. The Commission shall, 1403

on at least a quarterly basis, prepare summaries of all formal and informal 1404

complaints received by it and publish those summaries on its website. The 1405

summaries shall be in an easy-to-read and user friendly format. 1406

1407


1409

Section 412.330 Failure to Comply 1410 1411

Unless otherwise noted, a violation of this Part shall be subject to the fines and penalties set forth 1412

in the Act. 1413

1414


1416

Section 412.340 Severability 1417 1418

15-0512

APPENDIX A

35

If any provision of this Part is found invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining 1419

provisions shall remain in full force and effect. 1420

1421


1423

15-0512

APPENDIX A

36

Section 412.APPENDIX A Uniform Disclosure Statement 1424 1425

UNIFORM DISCLOSURE STATEMENT 1426

1427

Name: 1428

Address: 1429

1430

Phone: 1431

1432

Rates and Product Information

Price (in cents/kWh) and number of

months this price stays in effect:

Other monthly charges:

Total Price (in cents/kWh) with other

monthly charges:

500 kWh 1,000 kWh 1,500 kWh

Length of contract:

Price after the initial price:

Early Termination Fees and Contract Renewal

Early Termination Fee:

Contract Renewal:

Right to Rescind and Cancel

Recession:

You have a right to rescind (stop) your

enrollment within 10 days after your utility has

received your order to switch suppliers. You

may call us at (toll-free number) or your utility

at (toll-free number) to accomplish this.

Cancellation:

You also have the right to terminate the

contract without any termination fee or

penalty if you contact us at (toll-free number)

within 10 business days after the date of your

first bill with charges from (RES Name).

1433

15-0512

APPENDIX A

37

This is a sales solicitation and the seller is (RES Name), an independent retail electric supplier. If 1434

you enter into a contract with the seller, you will be changing your retail electric supplier. The 1435

seller is not endorsed by, representing, or acting on behalf of, a utility or utility program, a 1436

governmental body or a governmental program, or a consumer group or a consumer group 1437

program (unless the RES has entered into a contractual arrangement with the governmental body 1438

and has been authorized by the governmental body to make the statements). 1439

1440

If you have any concerns or questions about this sales solicitation, you may contact the Illinois 1441

Commerce Commission's Consumer Services Division at 800-524-0795. For information about 1442

the electric supply price of your electric utility and offers from other retail electric suppliers, 1443

please visit PlugInIllinois.org. 1444

1445

1446 Date: Agent ID:

1447


appendix a 2 chapter i: illinois commerce commission

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