New York Group Protests Lack of Auto Enrollment in Con Ed Program

The Public Utility Law Project (PULP) of New York has petitioned the New York Public Service Commission to require Con Edison, the utility serving New York City, to implement the requirements of a low-income rate discount approved as part of a merger settlement agreement in November 2000.

A major component of the low-income program was the creation and use of an automatic computer matching program to identify and enroll eligible low-income customers in the Con Edison Low-Income Reduced Rate Program.

Those enrolled receive a reduction in their monthly customer service charge amounting to about $50 yearly, which will increase to about $63 per year over the period of the agreement -- through March 2005. The program was estimated to cost $26 million over the four years and to enroll 175,000 participants by its final year.

PULP's petition says Con Edison did not developed a plan for automatic enrollment within one year of the settlement, as required in the settlement; did not consult with parties to the agreement to develop a plan and did not explain its omission in a recent compliance filing. Customers enrolled in a number of needs-based assistance programs such as Food Stamps, Medicaid and LIHEAP, are eligible for the discount and Con Edison was required to develop a process to automatically enroll qualified customers by matching company records with records from the New York City Human Resources Administration and the Westchester County Department of Social Service. While some 50,000 households are currently enrolled, PULP claims these comprise a small subset of customers who receive benefits in the three categories who could be identified through Con Edison's records, rather than the wider universe of customers available through automatic enrollment.

Page Last Updated: December 7, 2005