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<title>January 2002: Massachusetts Protects Customer Privacy While Providing for
Retail Market Competition</title>
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<p align="left"><strong><small><font face="Arial">About The Author:</font></small></strong></p>
<p align="left"><font face="Arial" style="font-size: 9pt">Robert A. Olson is a partner in the law firm of
Brown, Olson & Gould, P.C. which maintains a nationwide practice in energy law,
public utility law and related commercial transactions.</font></p>
<p><small><font face="Arial"><font style="font-size: 9pt">He can be reached at:</font><br>
<br>
<b><font color="#0000FF">Brown, Olson & Gould, PC</font></b><br>
2 Delta Drive<br>
Suite 301<br>
Concord, NH 03301<br>
<a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><br>
(603) 225-9716<br>
<a href="mailto:[email protected]"></a></font></small></p>
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<img src="../images/statelin.gif" alt="STATELINE by Robert Olson" border="0" width="375" height="75">
</center><p align="left"><b><u><br>
January 2002</u>
<br>
<font size="6">Massachusetts Protects Customer Privacy
While Providing For
Retail
Market Competition<br>
</font>
</b><strong>by Robert Olson -- Brown, Olson and Wilson, P.C.<br>
</strong><font face="Arial" size="2">(<em>originally published by PMA OnLine Magazine:
200</em>2/03/09)</font></p><center>
</p>
<p align="left">The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy ("DTE") issued Competitive Market Initiatives on June 29, 2001 directing distribution companies to expand competitive
choices for default service customers. This Order was issued to spur competition in Massachusetts because it has not
progressed as rapidly or conveniently as once expected. The Order also provides a mechanism for the DTE to work with utilities and marketers to improve the availability of retail
markets to all customers. The DTE order specifies two Phases that must be achieved to make competition viable in Massachusetts.
</p>
<p align="left">During Phase I of this initiative, the DTE requires utilities to expand the customer lists ("Customer Information
provided to energy suppliers to include additional
personal information and identification of customer type and
class. The Customer Information Lists were created to provide utility
competitors access to customer information including
name, address and rate class. DTE also required distribution
companies to immediately provide expanded options to de-fault
customers. As part of the expanded options program, the
DTE and Massachusetts Electric Company created the "New
Choices Program". This program provides information to
customers on suppliers and instruction on price comparison
methods.
</p>
<p align="left">In Phase II the DTE commenced an inquiry into the
appropriate role of the distribution companies currently pro-viding
customer service in Massachusetts.
</p>
<p align="left">The DTE memorandum dated December 11, 2001 high-lighted
four areas of concern:
</p>
<p align="left">1) Should electric distribution companies perform the
role of electricity brokers for their default service customers?
</p>
<p align="left">2) What customer information should be required for
enrollment?
</p>
<p align="left">3) Should the shared customer information list include
service delivery points and customers who receive
service from competitive suppliers?
</p>
<p align="left">4) The appropriate use of the Internet for data transmission.
</p>
<p align="left">In response to the DTE memorandum, utilities and
marketers provided information and opinions to the DTE. Among the
respondents were Duke Energy Trading and Marketing,
LLC ("Duke"), the "Competitive Suppliers" (AES New
Energy, Inc., Green Mountain Energy Company, National Energy
Marketers Association, The NewPower Company,
SmartEnergy, Inc. and Strategic Energy Ltd.) and Usource (A
subsidiary of New Hampshire based Unitil).</p>
<p align="left">Duke’s response states support for the DTE Phase I
guidelines for the Customer Information Lists. These guide-lines
will require utilities to make their customer lists available
to competitive suppliers and to include on the lists customers
already taking advantage of competitive supplies in the expectation
that these methods will create avenues of access for
customers.
</p>
<p align="left">The Competitive Suppliers’ response includes crit-cism
of the plan’s approach requiring distribution companies to
perform functions currently performed by marketing companies.
The Competitive Suppliers’ suggested that in the future,
distribution companies would no longer provide generation
services or compete in the retail energy market. Additionally,
the Competitive Suppliers maintained that the directions pro-vided
by DTE in Phase I for Customer Information Lists are too
cumbersome for most utilities to undertake and that customers
would be better served by use of internet-based data functions.
</p>
<p align="left">Usource recommended that customers file information
with load aggregators and then the aggregators would
purchase the necessary retail supply. Under this concept,
customers’ privacy is protected, while allowing participation in
the competitive market. The arrangement proposed by Usource
requires traditional utilities to provide marketing tools to in-form
the consumer instead of providing customer information
to the competitive suppliers.
</p>
<p align="left">These three recommendations attempt to protect customer
privacy while opening-up the retail market for electricity;
they also provide protection for these companies and their
current form of operation. The DTE will review these, and all
other, recommendations at the hearing scheduled on January
16, 2002. </p>
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<blockquote>
<p align="left"><font face="Arial">
<small>Robert A. Olson is a partner in the law firm of Brown, Olson &
Gould P.C.
which maintains a nationwide practice in energy law, public utility law and related
commercial transactions. He can be reached at:</small></font><p align="center">
<font face="Arial"><small><font color="#0000FF"><b>Brown, Olson & Gould, PC</b></font><br>
2 Delta Drive, Suite 301<br>
Concord, NH 03301 <br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> | (603) 225-9716<a href="mailto:[email protected]"></a></small></font>
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