Dominion stops sharing SC customers’ data as utility regulators launch investigation
South Carolina utility regulators will investigate Dominion Energy’s sale of customer data to a third-party company that has been accused of deceptive marketing tactics in a number of other states.
Meanwhile, Dominion says it has temporarily stopped sharing S.C. customers’ data with HomeServe USA, the home repairs company that has been sending those customers unsolicited mailers suggesting — in ominous language — that they purchase insurance on the gas lines in their homes.
Both developments have come since The State first reported on Dominion Energy South Carolina’s business arrangement with HomeServe on Friday.
They also come as victories for the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff, the state agency that advocates for utility customers.
Regulatory Staff has been pushing Dominion for months to accept a proposed code of conduct that would prohibit the Virginia-based company from selling S.C. customers’ data without their consent, among other things. Dominion has pushed back, calling the restrictions burdensome and unnecessary.
Now Regulatory Staff will be tasked with investigating the Dominion-HomeServe deal. That probe was ordered Monday by the S.C. Public Service Commission, a panel that sets utility rates in South Carolina.
The HomeServe mailers, which came on Dominion’s letterhead, began hitting Dominion customers’ mailboxes this month. They warn of the high costs of gas line repairs and offer protection for $2.95 a month.
Some of Dominion’s South Carolina customers were confused about who sent the mailers and whether gas line insurance is necessary. Gas line insurance is already covered in most homeowners’ insurance policies, according to the Better Business Bureau.
Such confusion has made HomeServe the target of nationwide complaints and lawsuits over its marketing tactics, which often involve mailers that resemble a utility’s correspondence with its customers.
“ORS shares the Commission’s concerns about the recent third-party solicitations received by Dominion customers through direct mailings on Dominion’s letterhead,” Regulatory Staff spokesman Ron Aiken wrote in a statement.
“Dominion has objected to the robust ratepayer protections ORS has proposed,” Aiken added. “Those protections would have prevented the recent mailings that customers found misleading. ORS will investigate Dominion as ordered by the Commission and remains hopeful the Commission will adopt ORS’ proposed code of conduct that affords South Carolina customers the same protections Dominion extends its customers in other states.”
Dominion Energy’s S.C. spokeswoman Rhonda O’Banion said the company will cooperate with Regulatory Staff’s probe, in addition to doing some introspection.
“We will be reviewing our practices to determine if any changes would be beneficial to our customers,” O’Banion wrote in a statement. “Therefore, effective immediately, Dominion Energy will temporarily discontinue providing customer data to HomeServe for the purpose of making customers aware of optional home repair programs. HomeServe will not be marketing to our customers in South Carolina in December.”
Dominion and HomeServe “have mutually arrived at this business decision,” O’Banion wrote.
Public Service Commission member Tom Ervin cited The State’s reporting as he proposed ordering an investigation of the HomeServe deal Monday.
“This concerns me on several levels,” Ervin said.
