Sec. 16a-23n. Contract for retail sale of home heating oil or propane gas offering guaranteed price plan. Disclosures. Advertisements. Dealer requirements, reporting and notification. Notification re - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 16a-23n. Contract for retail sale of home heating oil or propane gas offering guaranteed price plan. Disclosures. Advertisements. Dealer requirements, reporting and notification. Notification re cancellation of contract or other similar commitment. (a) A contract for the retail sale of home heating oil or propane gas that offers a guaranteed price plan, including fixed price contracts and any other similar terms, shall be in writing and the terms and conditions of such price plan shall be disclosed. Such disclosure shall be in plain language and shall immediately follow the language concerning the price or service that could be affected and shall be printed in no less than twelve-point boldface type of uniform font.

      (b) A home heating oil or propane gas dealer that advertises a price shall offer such price for a period of no less than twenty-four hours or until the next advertised price is publicized, whichever occurs first.

      (c) No home heating oil or propane gas dealer shall enter into, renew or extend a prepaid home heating oil or propane gas contract or a capped price per gallon home heating oil contract unless such dealer has either: (1) Obtained and maintained heating oil or propane gas futures or forwards contracts or other similar commitments the total amount of which allow such dealer to purchase, at a fixed price, heating oil or propane gas in an amount not less than eighty per cent of the maximum number of gallons or amount that such dealer is committed to deliver pursuant to all prepaid home heating oil or propane gas contracts entered into, renewed or extended by such dealer or that such dealer estimates is committed pursuant to all capped price per gallon home heating oil or capped price per unit propane gas contracts, respectively, or (2) obtained and maintained a surety bond in an amount not less than fifty per cent of the total amount of funds paid to the dealer by consumers pursuant to prepaid home heating oil or propane gas contracts or that the dealer estimates will be paid to the dealer by consumers pursuant to all capped price per gallon home heating oil or capped price per unit propane gas contracts, respectively. Such dealer shall maintain such total amount of futures or forwards contracts or other similar commitments or the amount of the surety bond required by this subsection for the period of time for which such prepaid home heating oil or propane gas contracts or capped price per gallon home heating oil or capped price per unit propane gas contracts are effective, except that the total amount of such futures or forwards contracts or other similar commitments or the amount of the surety bond may be reduced during such period of time to reflect any amount of home heating oil or propane gas already delivered to and paid for by the consumer.

      (d) No prepaid home heating oil or propane gas contract shall require any consumer commitment to purchase home heating oil or propane gas pursuant to the terms of such contract for a period of more than eighteen months.

      (e) Any prepaid home heating oil or propane gas contract shall indicate: (1) The amount of funds paid by the consumer to the dealer under such contract, (2) the maximum number of gallons of home heating oil or maximum amount of propane gas committed by the dealer for delivery to the consumer pursuant to such contract, and (3) that performance of such prepaid home heating oil or propane gas contract is secured by one of the two options described in subsection (c) of this section. Any such contract shall provide that the contract price of any undelivered home heating oil or propane gas owed to the consumer under the contract, on the end date of such contract, shall be reimbursed to the consumer not later than thirty days after the end date of such contract unless the parties to such contract agree otherwise.

      (f) Each home heating oil or propane gas dealer who enters into, renews or extends prepaid home heating oil or propane gas contracts or capped price per gallon home heating oil contracts or capped price per unit propane gas contracts shall inform the Commissioner of Consumer Protection, in writing, that such dealer is entering into, renewing or extending such contracts and shall identify any entity from which the dealer has secured futures or forwards contracts or other similar commitments pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. Each such dealer shall notify the commissioner if at any time the total amount of such secured futures or forwards contracts or other such similar commitments held by the dealer is less than eighty per cent of the maximum number of gallons or amount that such dealer is committed to deliver pursuant to all such prepaid home heating oil or propane gas contracts entered into, renewed or extended by such dealer or that such dealer estimates it is committed to deliver pursuant to all of its capped price per gallon home heating oil or capped price per unit propane gas contracts, respectively. The commissioner shall prescribe the form in which such information shall be reported.

      (g) Each person from which a home heating oil or propane gas dealer has secured a futures or forwards contract or other similar commitment pursuant to subsection (c) of this section shall notify the Commissioner of Consumer Protection, in writing, of the cancellation of such contract or other similar commitment not later than three business days after such cancellation.

      (P.A. 01-46, S. 2, 7; P.A. 04-194, S. 2; P.A. 05-229, S. 2; Oct. 25 Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-2, S. 13; P.A. 06-65, S. 3; Aug. Sp. Sess. P.A. 08-1, S. 3.)

      History: P.A. 01-46 effective July 1, 2001; P.A. 04-194 designated existing provisions as Subsec. (a) and added Subsec. (b) requiring dealers who advertise a price to offer the price for not less than 24 hours or until the next advertised price is publicized, whichever occurs first; P.A. 05-229 added Subsecs. (c) to (e) re prepaid home heating oil contracts, effective July 8, 2005; Oct. 25 Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-2 amended Subsec. (c) to add provisions re capped price per gallon home heating oil contracts, effective December 1, 2005; P.A. 06-65 applied provisions to propane gas contracts and dealers; Aug. Sp. Sess. P.A. 08-1 made technical changes in Subsecs. (a) and (b), amended Subsec. (c) to include renewed and extended prepaid contracts and forwards contracts and other similar commitments and to increase futures fixed price purchase requirement in Subdiv. (1) from 75% to 80% of maximum number of gallons or amount dealer is committed to deliver, added Subsec. (f) re dealer contracts and related reporting to Commissioner of Consumer Protection and added Subsec. (g) re notice to Commissioner of Consumer Protection upon cancellation of certain futures or forwards contracts or other similar commitments, effective September 1, 2008.