2023 District of Columbia Code › Title 34 - Public Utilities › Chapter 15 - Retail Electric Competition and Consumer Protection › § 34–1507. Consumer protections

§ 34–1507. Consumer protections.
(a)(1) Unless a customer consents in writing, a market participant or the electric company may not disclose information that:
(A) Is about the customer; and
(B) Was supplied to the market participant or electric company by the customer.
(2) This restriction shall not apply to:
(A) Lawful disclosures for bill collection or credit rating reporting purposes; or
(B) Lawful disclosures to a building owner about the energy consumption of a non-residential tenant of the building.
(3) Aggregated consumption data may be provided under the following circumstances:
(A) When at least 5 customer accounts are being aggregated;
(B) When no single customer account represents more than 80% of the total aggregated energy consumption; and
(C) When no individual customer-identifying information is included, unless:
(i) The customer-identifying information is supplied by the person requesting the consumption data; and
(ii) The person requesting the consumption data owns the building for which the consumption data is requested.
(b)(1) Unless a customer consents in writing, a market participant or the electric company may not use information of the type specified in subsection (a)(1) of this section for any purpose other than the purpose for which the information was originally acquired.
(2) This restriction shall not apply to lawful disclosures for bill collection or credit rating reporting purposes.
(c) Unless the customer consents, a market participant may not change a customer’s electricity supplier.
(d) Unless the customer consents, a market participant may not add services or new charges to a customer’s existing retail electric service options.
(e)(1) A market participant may not engage in marketing, advertising, or trade practices that are unfair, false, misleading, or deceptive.
(2) A market participant must provide adequate and accurate information to each customer about the market participant’s available services and charges.
(f) A market participant may not discriminate against any customer based wholly or partly on the race, color, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression of the customer, or for any arbitrary, capricious, or unfairly discriminatory reason.
(g) A market participant may not refuse to provide service to a customer except by the application of standards that are reasonably related to the market participant’s economic and business purposes.
(h) A market participant shall post on the Internet information that is readily understandable about its services and rates for small commercial and residential electric customers.
(May 9, 2000, D.C. Law 13-107, § 107, 47 DCR 1091; June 25, 2008, D.C. Law 17-177, § 18(b), 55 DCR 3696; Dec. 17, 2014, D.C. Law 20-142, § 102, 61 DCR 8045.)
Section References
This section is referenced in § 34-1504 and § 34-1518.01.
Effect of Amendments
D.C. Law 17-177, in subsec. (f), substituted “sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression” for “or sexual orientation”.
The 2014 amendment by D.C. Law 20-142 rewrote (a)(2); and added (a)(3).
Editor's Notes
Applicability of D.C. Law 20-142: Section 502(a) of D.C. Law 20-142 provided that Title I of the act, §§ 101-111, shall apply as of January 1, 2015.