Sec. 11.17. Notification requirements

(a) Annual notification of rights.

Every utility shall, at the time service is initiated to a residential customer and at least annually thereafter, by a notice accompanying a regular bill or in a separate mailing, provide residential customers with a summary of their rights and obligations under the Home Energy Fair Practices Act, the Energy Consumer Protection Act of 2002 and this Part. At a minimum, the summary shall include the following:

(1) a description of the complaint-handling procedures available at the utility and the commission;

(2) the rights and obligations of residential customers relating to payment of bills, termination, disconnection and suspension of service and reconnection of service;

(3) a description of special protections afforded the elderly, blind and disabled; persons with medical emergencies; persons receiving public assistance, supplemental security income benefits or additional State payments; and persons in two-family dwellings;

(4) a request that residential customers who qualify for the protections referred to in section 11.5(b) and (c) of this Part voluntarily so inform the utility;

(5) the right of a customer to designate a third party to receive copies of all notices relating to termination, disconnection and suspension of service or other credit notices;

(6) appropriate forms that customers claiming the protections of paragraph (3), (4) or (5) of this subdivision may fill out and return;

(7) a description of the customers' rights in regard to deferred payment plans and the holding and demanding of security deposits by the utility;

(8) a description of the utility's budget or levelized payment plans; and

(9) if a residential customer receives residential gas or electric service from two or more utilities, the residential customer need not be notified by each such utility. The distribution utility shall provide a single annual notice to residential customers.

(b) Billing information in non-English language.

Every utility providing service to a county where, according to the most recent Federal census, at least 20 percent of the population regularly speaks a language other than English, shall, at the request of a customer residing in such county, send its messages on bills and notices in both English and such other language to such customer. At least once a year, every utility shall supply, to all residential customers in such county, a notice in such other language spoken regularly by at least 20 percent of the population in such county of the right to request messages on bills and notices in such other language.

(c) Notification for customers billed on time-of-use rates.

Every utility which offers time-of-use rates shall provide the following information, at least twice per year, by a notice accompanying a regular bill or in a separate mailing to its customers billed on such rates:

(1) a description of the hours for which these rates are available for both standard and daylight standard time;

(2) if resetting the electric time-of-use meter is necessary to restore the effective hours of the time-of-use rates following an interruption of service, a description of procedures such customer shall follow in order to have their time-of-use electric meter reset; and

(3) if resetting the electric time-of-use meter is necessary, when the utility has knowledge of an outage, a statement within 60 days of such outage that the time-of-use rate may not be applied at the previously stated times until the time-of-use electric meter is reset.