(a) The Commission shall order the gas company, in conjunction with the Office of the People’s Counsel and the District of Columbia Energy Office, to implement a consumer education program to inform residential customers of changes in the natural gas industry and provide natural gas supplier choice information.
(b) The consumer education program shall include the dissemination of information to enable residential customers to make informed choices about available licensed natural gas suppliers and the services they provide and suppliers, notification to residential natural gas customers of the right to submit their names for inclusion on a list of residential customers not wanting to receive solicitations from natural gas suppliers, and communication to residential customers of the consumer protection provisions of this chapter. The Commission shall ensure the neutrality of the content and message of the consumer education program’s advertisements and materials. The Commission shall promulgate standards for the recovery of consumer education program costs from residential customers which include reasonable measures and criteria to evaluate the success of the program in enhancing residential customer understanding of retail choice.
(c) As part of the consumer education program, the Commission shall develop and maintain information regarding residential rates charged and services provided by licensed natural gas suppliers to residential customers. The information required shall be:
(1) Readily understandable and formatted to provide a comparison of rates and services offered by natural gas suppliers; and
(2) Made available to the public through the ordinary means of publication by the Commission, including posting on the Internet, or such other means as determined by the Commission.
(d) Any dispute regarding the consumer education program mandated by this section shall be resolved by the Commission.
(Mar. 16, 2005, D.C. Law 15-227, § 8, 51 DCR 10549.)