Delaware Public Service Commission supports transparent Delmarva bills

At the Dec. 3 Delaware Public Service Commission meeting, the PSC reaffirmed the need for Delmarva Power and Light’s monthly bills to be transparent when listing various charges. Commissioner Mike Karia said, “The job of a public monopoly or government agency is to do a good job technically and two steps beyond that.”

The Billing Transparency docket brought forth by legislators was successful in breaking out the Low Income Charge, Green Energy Fund and Renewable Compliance Charge on Delmarva’s monthly electric bills starting July 1, 2014. However, after holding more workshops this year, the parties involved could not agree on whether the Qualified Fuel Cell Provider Charge or “Bloom Charge” should be separately listed.

Delmarva currently files the QFCP Charge with the PSC on a monthly basis, and these filings can be found on the PSC’s website. At this time, the QFCP Charge is included in the Renewable Compliance Charge. Some of the parties involved felt that due to the uniqueness of the QFCP Charge, it should be listed independently. Commissioner Harold Gray agreed and said, “The internet is simply one of many channels through which to communicate with the customer as is the bill. If it’s feasible and practical to do it, why not?”

The lengthy discussion presented several viewpoints on the importance of listing or not listing the QFCP Charge. Karia said, “The word is outreach.” He expressed that from his time working for the City of Dover’s utility division, he learned that the responsibility of the government is to overextend information to the customer.

The commission decided that the QFCP Charge would be listed separately from the Renewable Compliance Charge by either listing it as a line item or as a note on the bill.

For more information, go to https://delafile.delaware.gov.