Dive Brief:

• The Illinois Commerce Commission is taking comment on draft rules that place tighter restrictions on competitive energy suppliers, including marketing limitations and standardized contract language to help consumers make smart choices, the Herald & Review reports. 
• Regulators said the new rules arose from a reviewing of marketing practices following a spate of complaints that arose during the winter of 2014-2015.
• Illinois is not alone in its push to crack down on suppliers; New York has also proposed new rules on energy service companies (ESCOs), possibly requiring them to either guarantee savings or require a portion of the energy to come from clean sources.

Dive Insight:

Much like in New York, where reports of deceptive marketing forced regulators to issue new rules on ESCOs, Illinois says it saw a spike in complaints following the bitterly cold Polar vortex winter.

The new rules are designed to "deter retail electric suppliers from using deceptive marketing practices and protect
consumers by providing them with clear information necessary to make informed decisions,” ICC Chairman Brien Sheahan said in a statement.The Illinois Attorney General and the Citizens Utility Board were also involved in developing the new rules.

The proposed rules focus on consumer protections through additional marketing controls. Those include recorded third-party verification of door-to-door sales, and a requirement that that the salesperson is not present during the verification process. 

Standardized contract language will also be required, as will a “Uniform Disclosure Statement” that will allow customers to better compare offers. Descriptions of “fixed rate” offers will follow new restrictions, as will terms like "renewable" and "green." Retail electric suppliers would also be required to post their residential offers on the ICC’s consumer choice website.

For New York, its consumer protections, issued in February, have come under fire from ESCOs who claim the rules go too far. A judge this summer sided with competitive providers, finding New York's new rules to be "irrational, arbitrary and capricious."

The New York rules prohibited new ESCO contracts with residential or small commercial customers unless they either guaranteed savings or sourced at least 30% of the power from renewable sources. About 20% of New York's residential customers get their energy from an independent company.