Consumer Protection & Regulatory Issues

Low-income households need stronger consumer protections and regulatory policies to prevent service terminations and other threats to affordable and continuous utility services.

Administrative & Regulatory Outcomes

• 2013 DPH memo on Submetering of Electric and Gas, Sept. 5, 2013
• Model Program Helps Older Adults Avoid Utility Liens on Their Homes, December 2012
• California Adopts Order to Reduce Utility Disconnections of Vulnerable Households, April 2012
• Order: Vermont Public Service Board Approval of a New Low Income Electric Bill Assistance Program under the Administrative and Regulatory Outcomes, July 22, 2011
• Model Settlement Protects Vulnerable Consumers from Utility Disconnections, Dec. 27, 2010

Policy Briefs, Reports & Press Releases

• Issue Brief: Massachusetts Residential Utility Customers Still Owe Nearly $100M More in Arrears than at the Start of the Pandemic, February 2022
• Report: Protecting Seriously Ill Consumers from Utility Disconnections: What States Can Do to Save Lives Now, February 2021; press release
• Report: COVID-Driven Utility Arrearages: Implications for Policy in Massachusetts and the Nation, February 2021; press release
• Policy Brief: Innovative State Actions on Residential Utility Bill Payment Protections During Covid-19 & Beyond, September 2020
• Report: Electric Service Discount and Arrearage Management Program Design Template, April 2020
• Fact Sheet: What States Can Do to Help Consumers: Energy Insecurity, January 2020
• Policy brief: Model Utility Consumer Protections When Natural Disasters Strike, August 2018
• Report: Helping Low-Income Utility Customers Manage Overdue Bills through Arrearage Management Programs (AMP), September 2013
• Report: Rethinking Prepaid Utility Service: Customers at Risk, June 2012
• Full Utility Credit Reporting
  • Issue Brief: The Credit Score Pandemic Paradox and Credit Invisibility, Feb. 2021
  • H.R. 435, Credit Access and Inclusion Act. Consumer opposition letter, Oct. 30, 2017
  • Policy Brief Full Utility Credit Reporting: Risks to Low Income Consumers, July 2012
  • Presentation to National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions, June 2010
  • Report: Full Utility Credit Reporting: Risks to Low Income Consumers, Dec. 2009
• Report: Home Energy Costs: The New Threat to Independent Living for the Nation’s Low-Income Elderly, Feb. 2008
• Resource Guide for Financial Help w. Utility Bills in MA
• Report: Guide to Intervening in State Public Utility Proceedings, May 2003
• Report: Tracking the Home Energy Needs of Low-Income Households Through Trend Data on Arrearages and Disconnections, May 2004
• Press Release: Increased Utility Debt Threatens Universal Access to Utility

Policy Analysis

• H.R. 435, Credit Access and Inclusion Act. Consumer opposition letter, Oct. 30, 2017
• Group letter to the ACEEE rejecting characterization of prepaid utility service as an energy efficiency program, March 22, 2017
• Group letter to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in support of the nomination of Ron Binz as Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, July 9, 2013
• Press Release and Advocates’ Letter to the FCC in support of The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates’ Recommendation for FCC to Reject Industry’s ABC Plan, September 15, 2011
• Comments and Reply Comments of the Iowa Bureau of Energy Assistance regarding Prepaid Meters, August 2011
• Using Nontraditional Credit Information: Boon or Bane? Do Alternative Credit Scores and Credit Reports Really Help Low-Income Consumers?, June 2009
• Comments of Massachusetts Energy Directors Association and Low-Income Weatherization and Fuel Assistance Network – Investigation into Expanding Low-income Consumer Protections and Assistance, March 28, 2008

Additional Resources

• Presentation: Low-Income Utility Bill Assistance Program Design in the Age of COVID-19: Energy Security and Management of Debt, May 27, 2020
• Presentation: Advocacy to Manage Low-Income Utility Debt in the Age of Covid-19, May 26, 2020
• Presentation: The Utility Customer Financial Impact of COVID-19: The Need For Flexibility and Reform in Utility Billing, Credit and Collections, May 13, 2020
• Presentation: Disparate Energy Insecurity Impacts: The Need For Racial Justice in Utility Billing, Credit and Collections, April 14, 2020
• “Prepaid Utility Service and Revenue Decoupling” by National Resource Defense Council Energy Program Co-director Ralph Cavanagh and NCLC Senior Energy Policy Analyst John Howat published in the Electricity Policy Journal, May 2, 2012
• Research Resources Regarding Needs and Impacts Relating to Low Income Utility and Energy Consumers