CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

New York State Electric & Gas Corp. will change its bill notices to include new information, including mention that a consumer could achieve some tax savings by switching to an energy service company, or ESCO.

The New York State Public Service Commission said it ordered the change to reduce consumer confusion about energy supply options and make comparison shopping easier. The price-to-compare notice will be included on customers' bills by March 31, the PSC said.

This decision will further customer choice and the ability of energy service companies, or ESCOs, to participate and rely on a fair, competitive market,” PSC Chairman Garry Brown said in a written statement.

In addition, the PSC said in an informal summary that it approved NYSEG's filing to remove the bill issuance and payment processing charge component from the basic monthly service charge and show it as a separate item on the customer's bill.
In December 2006, the PSC denied NYSEG's previous request to unbundle the bill issuance charge. The PSC said it was concerned about the amount of the bill issuance cost to be removed from the bills of customers who buy electric and gas service from ESCOs and about whether segregating and separately listing the charge violated Public Service Law.

At the time, NYSEG was told to include the cost in the basic service charge and state that the charge included 70 cents of bill issuance costs.

James Denn, a PSC spokesman, said he couldn't discuss the new order about the bill issuance charge because it hadn't been issued yet.