Illinois Administrative Code › Title 83 - PUBLIC UTILITIES › Part 512 - OBLIGATIONS OF ALTERNATIVE GAS SUPPLIERS › Subpart B - MARKETING PRACTICES › Section 512.130 - 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
				AGS sales agent who contacts customers by telephone for the purpose of selling
				natural gas supply service shall provide the agent's name and identification number.
				The AGS sales agent
shall state
that the sales agent
represents an independent seller of
natural
gas
supply service,
certified by the Illinois Commerce Commission. An AGS sales
				agent shall not state or otherwise imply that
the sales 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
				AGS 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. [815 ILCS
				505/2DDD(c) (2.3)]
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 and respond to 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 AGS sales agent
				shall, during the sales presentation to the customer, disclose the items listed in
				Section 512.110(a) and (c) through
				(n), unless the sales presentation is terminated
				by the customer before the disclosures are completed. An AGS sales agent may
				disclose the items in any order provided that all applicable items are explained to
				the customer prior to the agent obtaining the customer's utility account number. An
				AGS 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 solicitation 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. Recordings of a customer who has completed a telephone enrollment
				shall also be provided to that customer upon request.
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 all disclosures required by
				Section 512.110(a) and (c) through
				(n). Each item must be disclosed to the customer
				individually to obtain clear acknowledgment of each disclosure. An AGS 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 AGS 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 one business day after the natural gas utility's confirmation
				to the AGS of an accepted enrollment.
g)
				Upon a customer's request, the AGS shall refrain from any further direct
				telemarketing to that customer. The AGS shall notify its agents of a customer's
				request.