In response to a request for comments, the Massachusetts Attorney
General, NSTAR, a distribution company; and the Massachusetts Community Action Program
Directors Association issued a joint statement of principles that included the following:
- Default Service provided by local utilities may be the only viable
energy option for small, residential and low-income customers for the foreseeable future;
such service provides a valuable means of delivering the benefits of the competitive
market to those customers, and should continue to be offered to them.
- Default Service prices should not be below the costs incurred to
procure Default Service from the competitive market - this ensures that Default Service
rates are not subsidized and thereby create an artificial price barrier to retail
competition.
- Customers should not be forced to pay rates for Default Service
that exceed the market-based, competitively established costs to serve them so that even
those customers who do not have viable, direct access to retail competition will continue
to benefit from competitive markets.
- Retail choice should be maintained and therefore
customers should not be involuntarily assigned to retail suppliers (i.e., slammed).
- Default Service for small customers should be procured and priced
over a longer term, in order to assure greater price stability for those customers.
- Any mandated procurement process for Default Service should be
flexible enough to allow utilities to make purchases that are in the customers’ best
interests and result in the lowest reasonable price for customers.
Back to Mass. News and Analysis |