Note to Bidders: Below Are Links to the Three Dockets on the Public Utilities Regulatory

UPDATED AS OF JULY18, 2011

Note to Bidders: Below are links to the three dockets on the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (“PURA”) website that contain information regarding the CCEO program. The current RFP is a result of Docket No. 10-05-07. While the other two dockets are for previous rounds of the CCEO program, there are various compliance filings that are still filed under these older dockets. Click on the triangle next to the docket name to see all the docket names. Where appropriate, links to specific documents in these dockets have been provided in the answers below.

Docket No. 03-07-16 (inc. RE01 and RE02)

Docket No. 07-01-09 (inc. RE01)

Docket No. 10-05-07

Question 1.In the event a new CCEO supplier is selected, it is unclear how residential customers of the departing CCEO will be notified that they can now be served by the new CCEO. Will these residential customers have to opt-out (or in) of being transferred to the new CCEO?

Answer 1.The current CCEO suppliers may continue to serve existing CCEO customers even in the event a new CCEO supplier is selected, subject to the limitations in Section II.B.13 of the PURA’s March 30, 2011 Decision in Docket No. 10-05-07. As the price and product under these circumstances remains unchanged, there is no notice and existing customers are not automatically transferred to a new supplier. They are free, however, to choose a new supplier. Regarding notice of the new offering, the winningbidders have the option to request at their expense up to two bill stuffers per year. Bill stuffers are sent to all customers, not just existing CCEO customers.

Question 2.The RFP asks for a single price and product mix, which we intend to provide. Will there be a penalty if we also provide additional options for consideration?

Answer 2.To submit a valid bid, bidders must use the bid form released with the RFP as is, with no alterations. Per the Term Sheet, only one bid can be submitted for evaluation.

Question 3.How are price changes communicated to the customer, and are customers simply notified of the price change or required to agree to continue participation at the new pricing level?

Answer 3.The maximum price for each year of the contract is the price provided in the bid form. CCEO suppliers may charge less than their bid price, but can never charge more. Changes in rates are communicated to customers via the bidders’ marketing plan, which, for example, may include the use of bill stuffers, direct mailings or the CTCleanEnergyOptions website. Customers may discontinue participation at any time for any reason. Any price change notification is the responsibility of the CCEO supplier.

Question 4.Can CCEO provide the historical prices of the options offered by the current providers?

Answer 4.Historic prices are not available. The current offering can be found at --

Question 5.Can CCEO provide the historical product mix actually delivered to CCEO customers?

Answer 5.Annual compliance filings filed by the CCEO suppliers with the PURA are the best source of historical information. These filings can be found on the PURA website under Docket No’s 03-07-16, 03-07-16RE01, 03-07-16RE02 and 07-01-09.
The latest filed annual reports for Community Energy can be found at:

The latest filed annual reports for Sterling Planet can be found at:

Question 6.What is the current load obligation in terms of RECs required for the current program as well as the number of participants?

Response 6.The current REC obligations are not public information. However, data for 2009 can be found in CL&P and UI’s annual compliance filing with the PURA in Docket No. 07-01-09. PURA Docket No. 06-10-22 contains the historic monthly customer counts reports.

The most recent annual compliance filing for CL&P can be found at:

The most recent annual compliance filing for UI can be found at:

The most recent customer counts reports counts for CL&P can be found at:

The most recent customer counts reports counts for UI can be found at:

There is also similar/additional information available in the Interrogatories and Late File Exhibits on the PURA website in Docket No. 10-05-07 at:

Question 7.What is the cost of a bill insert?

Answer 7.The cost is approximately $14,000 for CL&P and $7,000 for UI.

Question 8.Once customers enroll with a CCEO supplier, do they remain a customer of the CCEO supplier until they move out of CT or actively opt-out, or is there another mechanism that triggers a termination of service?

Answer 8.The customer will remain enrolled until they request the Electric Distibution Companies (“EDC’s”) to drop them, the EDC’s receive a drop from a CCEO supplier or the customer's account is closed and no new service is initiated in our service territory. Please see the EDC’s Terms and Conditions for further details.

Question 9.When a customer moves within the a distribution company’s service territory or within CT to another CCEO distribution company, is enrollment in CCEO portable such that a customer automatically stays enrolled through the transfer of service?

Answer 9.A customer may move its CCEO supplier to a new location within the same service territory if the customer desires to do so, provided that the gap between the turn on date at the new address and the turn off date at the old address is minimal and there is no overlap in service. If the customer moves from CL&P to UI, or vice versa, the CCEO supplier must re-enroll the customer. Please see the EDC’s Terms and Conditions for further details.

Question 10.Of all customers enrolled in CCEO, how many customers are enrolled at the 100% level versus the 50% level?

Answer 10.Please see the links in Answer 6.

Question 11.Of all customers enrolled in CCEO, how many of the customers fall into each of the following segments: residential, commercial, municipal, industrial? Approximately what percentage of kWh sold through the program fall to each customer segment?

Answer 11.Please see the links in Answer 6 regarding customer counts. Information regarding kwh sold by customer segment is not publically available.

Question 12.What was the drop rate for the program in 2010? Of those customers who dropped, what percentage came from customer moves versus other reasons?

Answer 12.The information for Community Energy can be found at:

The information for Sterling Planet can be found at:

and also at

Question 13.Is there a charge for using the Company’s VAN for EBT transactions? Is so, what is the schedule of those charges?

Answer 13.The EDC’s do not charge suppliers for EDI transactions.

Question 14.Of the two bill inserts that were sent in 2010, how many customer enrollments resulted from this effort?

Answer 14.The EDC’s do not track this information. Some information can be found at:

Question 15.Were any direct mails sent in 2010? If so, what was the response rate from this effort?

Answer 15.See the response to Question 14.

Question 16.Of the service fees listed in AppendixA of the Terms and Conditions, what is the average total amount assessed per CCEO Supplier during 2010?

Response 16.There were very minimal fees assessed, less than $100. The largest fee, which is for supplier initiation, is a one time fee and would only be paid by a new supplier.

Question 17.The “CL&P_CCEO_Supplier_TC_RFP_2011” document notes that the distribution company will “release customer information (name, address, rate class and if available, telephone number) to CCEO Suppliers unless the customer has requested protection from unwanted solicitation;” will the Company also provide the CCEO suppliers with customer account information?

Response 17.The customer list is available per the fee on Appendix A. CCEO suppliers can request usage history via EDI. They need to retain the consent forms.

Question 18.When a CCEO supplier is the sole sponsor of a marketing campaign, (i.e. direct mail), is there a requirement to include all options from all suppliers in the piece?

Answer 18.No.

Question 19.When sending a bill insert/stuffer through a distribution company bill, are there costs assessed the CCEO supplier other than the cost of the printing and production of the bill insert itself?

Answer 19.No.

Question 20.When customers call the distribution company to establish service, are they automatically introduced to the CCEO program? Approximately how many calls per month are transferred to a CCEO supplier from the call center?

Answer 20.Customers are informed of supplier options and if interested are transferred to an IVR or pointed to the CT Energy Info web site.

Question 21.The Conditions Precedent mentions a requirement for proof of a Supplier's status as a licensed electric supplier. Since we are to be supplier renewable energy credits only and not delivered electricity is this applicable? Do we need to be a registered supplier in general as mentioned in the Terms and Conditions Section IV item B?

Answer 21.Yes. The CCEO supplier must be a licensed electric supplier.

Question 22.Contact with UI's Customers: We are hoping for clarification on the nature of contact between the Supplier and UI's Customers. In the UI Company CCEO Supplier Service Agreement Section I item B it states "CCEO Supplier shall contract directly with UI's Customers for such Customers' purchase and receipt of CCEO Service." However, later on in Section VIII item A number 3 it states "UI shall pay CCEO Supplier for the number of Delivered RECs that qualify for payment each month..." This second statement seems to imply that UI will be collecting payment from the Customer and remitting it to the Supplier. Does the Customer sign up for green power service through UI or directly through the Supplier? It would be helpful to walk through step-by-step the process of a customer signing up for green power.

Answer 22.The CCEO supplier is responsible for signing up customers. The EDC’s provide a support role. Part of that role includes billing customers and receiving payment from customers. For the CCEO supplier to get paid, the supplier must deliver proper RECs to the EDC. The EDC’s, in turn, then remit payment to the supplier in accordance with the Agreement and the Terms and Conditions.

Question 23.Per a call center and webpage, is the Supplier expected to staff our own call center or just provide assistance with the FAQ sheet and talking points for UI's call center? Will the web page be hosted by UI or Supplier?

Answer 23.The CCEO supplier must host its own webpage. The CCEO supplier must abide by the guidelines and protocols for licensed electric suppliers. As such, the supplier must maintain a toll-free call center. For more information regarding supplier guidelines, please goto:

Question 24.Existing customers: how will existing CCEO Customers be handled with the potential change in Suppliers? Will existing customers remain with their existing Suppliers even if those Suppliers are not selected in this bid process? If not how will any transition be handled? If so, will existing Customer lists be available for new Suppliers to market to (if, for instance, the current price is much less than the Customers' current price and they may be encouraged to increase offset percentage)?

Answer 24.Please see the response to Question 1.

Question 25.In order to clarify the associated costs for a REC supplier with regard to your RFP for CT Clean Choice, can you please advise on whether the costs outlined in the United Illuminating Company Appendix A Service Charges document would apply, or if those charges are strictly for energy providers?

Answer 25.A CCEO supplier is consider the same as an electric supplier and must be licensed as such and the fees apply.

Question 26.Do CCEO Bidders need to be registered electricity suppliers in order to bid? If chosen as the CCEO Supplier, can the process of application to be a licensed electric supplier be competed before the start of service in 2012?

Answer 26.CCEO Bidders do not need be licensed electric suppliers to bid; however, if chosen as the CCEO Supplier, they must be a licensed electric supplier prior to any delivery.

Question 27. Does a lack of debt rating necessarily preclude Supplier from consideration?

Answer 27.No.

Question 28.Electronic data interchange system (“EDI”): what are the data points that will need to be passed back and forth forcustomer sign-up information?

Answer 28.To send transactions, the customer's billing account (for CL&P), the POD ID (for UI) and 4 character name key is required. There are various other fields that need to be populated depending on the type of transaction. The PURA's website has the transaction requirements and details.

Question 29.For EDI transactions do you have an AS2 connection or do we need to work through a Value Added Network(“VAN”)?

Answer 29.CL&P has migrated from the VAN to North American Energy Standards Board (“NAESB”). UI will be migrated to NAESB by the start of this program.

Question 30.What percent of customers are delinquent on accounts with nonpayment of over 60 days?

Answer 30.For CL&P, approximately 10% of customers had a non-zero balance that was greater than 60 days old.
For information on the calculation of the UI non-hardship uncollectible factor please see the link below. Payment/non-payment to CCEO Suppliers is not based upon percentage of customer’s delinquent nor on the total delinquency amount.

Question 31. How does customer non-payment work in regards to participation in the CCEO program? Is the CCEO Supplier required to provide RECs to a participating customer if customers do not pay their bills? If a customer goes to collection, is the CCEO Supplier reimbursed for those funds collected?

Answer 31.For both CL&P and UI, CCEO Supplier’s obligation to deliver RECs shall not be reduced, cancelled, or otherwise affected by a Customer’s nonpayment for CCEO Service; however, UI and CL&P Terms and Conditions differ concerning non-payment. For UI, CCEO suppliers are paid regardless of customer payment under UI's Bills Rendered Payment Methodology, whereby an uncollectible factor is applied to the Delivered REC payment subtotal. For CL&P, payments for REC deliveries from CCEO suppliers are capped by customer payments, but future collections from delinquent accounts are credited accordingly. CCEO suppliers may drop CL&P customers for non-payment. Please see UI's and CL&P's Terms and Conditions for specific details.

Question 32.CCEO Suppliers are able to purchase a list of customers from each distribution company. What percent of customers have opted out of this list?

Answer 32.The EDCs do not track the number of customers who've opted out of being on the customer list. UI does not charge a fee for the non-confidential list.

Question 33.On average, how many minutes are required per account lookup for new CCEO program enrollments? What rate is charged for this time?

Answer 33.On average, it takes about one minute per account and CL&P’s rate charge is $67.87 per hour. Please see Appendix A for UI service fees.