§ 62.32. Definitions.
The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
Act—Chapter 22 of 66 Pa.C.S. (relating to the natural gas choice and competition act).
BCS—Bureau of Consumer Services of the Commission.
Busy-out rate—The number of calls to an NGDC’s call center or business office that received a busy signal divided by the number of calls that were received.
Call center—A centralized facility established by a utility for transactions concerning installation and repair of service, billing and other inquiries between residential and small commercial customers and NGDCs representatives, but not including special purpose call centers established to respond to service emergencies and operating for a temporary period of time.
Call abandonment rate—The number of calls to an NGDC’s call center or business office that were abandoned divided by the total number of calls received.
Customer—A retail gas customer as defined in section 2202 of the act (relating to definitions).
Informal consumer complaint—An appeal by a consumer to the BCS about a utility’s proposed resolution of a dispute related to billing, service delivery, repairs and all other issues not related to requests for payment arrangements.
Informally verified infraction—An apparent misapplication of Commission regulations as determined by the BCS through its examination of information obtained as part of its review of informal consumer complaints and payment arrangement requests.(i) The informal verification process implemented by the BCS notifies a utility of the information which forms the basis of an alleged infraction, affords the utility the opportunity to affirm or deny the accuracy of the information and concludes with a BCS determination regarding the alleged infraction.
(ii) An informally verified infraction is not equivalent to a formal violation under 66 Pa.C.S. § 3301 (relating to civil penalties for violations) unless otherwise determined through applicable Commission procedures.
Infraction—A misapplication of a Commission regulation, particularly the standards and billing practices for residential service.
Infraction rate—The number of informally verified infractions, as determined by the BCS, per 1,000 residential customers.
Justified informal consumer complaint—A complaint where the BCS has determined that an NGDC did not follow Commission procedures or regulations.
Justified informal consumer complaint rate—The number of justified informal, residential consumer complaints, as determined by the BCS, per 1,000 residential customers.
Justified payment arrangement request—A payment arrangement request where an NGDC did not follow Commission negotiation procedures or regulations.
Justified payment arrangement request rate—The number of justified payment arrangement requests, as determined by the BCS, from residential customers per 1,000 residential customers.
NGDC—Natural gas distribution company.
Payment arrangement request—A customer request for payment terms to the BCS.
Promptness—The state or condition of acting or responding with speed or readiness to a customer’s question, complaint, dispute or request. An example of promptness might be the NGDC responding to a customer’s request for a premise visit with an appointment in 5 days rather than in 5 weeks.
Small business customer—A person, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association or other business whose annual gas consumption does not exceed 300 Mcf.
Timeliness—The state or condition of acting at the appropriate or correct time as previously determined or promised when responding to a customer’s question, complaint, dispute or request. An example of timeliness might be an NGDC representative arriving at the customer’s residence on the date and at the time previously agreed upon by the NGDC and the customer.
Transaction survey—A survey targeted toward individuals that have had a recent interaction with an NGDC.
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