Illinois Administrative Code › Title 83 - PUBLIC UTILITIES › Part 412 - OBLIGATIONS OF RETAIL ELECTRIC SUPPLIERS › Subpart B - MARKETING PRACTICES › Section 412.130 - Telemarketing

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
a) In addition to
				complying with the Telephone Solicitations Act [815 ILCS 413], an
				ARES sales agent who contacts customers by telephone for the purpose of selling
				electric power and energy service shall provide the agent's name and identification
				number. The ARES sales agent shall state that the agency represents an independent
				seller of electric power and energy service, certified by the Illinois Commerce
				Commission. An ARES sales agent shall not state or otherwise imply that the agent is
				employed by, representing, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of, a utility or a
				utility program, a consumer group or a consumer group program, unless the ARES is,
				through the consumer group, offering services at prices, terms and conditions that
				are available solely to members of that organization, or a governmental body or a
				program of a governmental body, unless the ARES has entered into a contractual
				arrangement with the governmental body and has been authorized by the governmental
				body to make the statements.
b) When it
				would be apparent to a reasonable person that a customer's language skills in the
				language of the solicitation are insufficient to allow the customer to understand a
				telephone solicitation in that language, or the customer or another person informs
				the agent of this circumstance, the agent must transfer the customer to a
				representative who speaks the customer's language, if such a representative is
				available, or terminate the call. When an interpreter is used, a form consistent
				with Section 2N of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act
				[815 ILCS
				505] must be completed.
c) An ARES sales agent shall, during the sales
				presentation to the customer disclose the items listed in Section
				412.110(a) and (c) through
				(o) and any information included in the UDS
				required by Section 412.115 that is not included in
				Section 412.110(a) and (c) through
				(n). An ARES sales agent may disclose the items in
				any order so long as all applicable items are explained to the customer during the
				sales presentation. An ARES may secure consent to obtain customer-specific usage
				information for the purposes of pricing a product through a verifiable customer
				consent or another Commission-approved process.
d) Any telemarketing solicitations that lead to a
				telephone enrollment must be recorded and retained for a minimum of two years. All
				telemarketing calls that do not lead to a telephone enrollment, but last at least
				two minutes, shall be recorded and retained for a minimum of six months. The
				recordings shall be provided upon request to Commission Staff or a customer who has
				completed a telephone enrollment.
e) For
				telemarketing that leads to a completed telephone enrollment, a third party
				verification must be used to authorize a customer's enrollment. The third party
				verification must require the customer to verbally acknowledge that the customer
				understands the disclosures required by Section
				412.110(a) and (c) through
				(n). Each item must be disclosed to the customer
				individually to obtain clear acknowledgment of each disclosure. An ARES sales agent
				initiating a 3-way conference call or a call through an automated verification
				system shall drop off the call and shall not participate in or listen to the call,
				but shall not cause the call to be terminated once the 3-way connection has been
				established. The ARES shall not contact the customer after the TPV for a period of
				24 hours unless contacted by the customer.
f) The UDS and contract shall be sent, in writing,
				to the customer within three business days after the electric utility's confirmation
				to the ARES of an accepted enrollment.
g) Upon a customer's request, the ARES shall
				refrain from any further marketing to that customer. The ARES shall notify its
				agents of a customer's request.