Dominion sold SC customers' data. Now they're getting unsolicited insurance offers

Nov. 22--COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The solicitations arriving this month in the mailboxes of S.C. utility customers are on Dominion Energy's letterhead, but the warning about the high cost of broken gas lines -- and the offer for insurance to shore up any catastrophe for just $2.95 a month -- came from someone else.

That's because Dominion Energy, the Virginia-based power giant that purchased South Carolina Electric & Gas in January, has sold S.C. customer data to a third-party company that now is mailing those customers unsolicited suggestions they purchase insurance on the gas lines in their homes.

Dominion Energy South Carolina customers have begun receiving mailers that prominently feature Dominion's logo but offer coverage through HomeServe USA, a Connecticut-based company that describes itself as a "leading provider of home repair solutions serving 3.1 million customers" in the United States and Canada.

Dominion's arrangement with HomeServe is legal but has gotten the company into hot water with regulators before.

In 2018, Utah utility regulators ruled the mailers were "misleading" customers and put a stop to them until just recently, when Dominion agreed to improve the clarity of future mailings and restrict HomeServe's access to customer information, according to regulators.

This time around, the arrangement has sparked confusion among the utility's new South Carolina customers.

"I've never heard of a gas line being insured," said Kenley Young, a 40-year-old Charleston resident who posted the offer on social media to alert others. "The way it's worded, it makes you think there is some imminent threat or imminent danger of your gas line being damaged. It's a little fishy."

The recent mailings also have irked S.C. utility regulators.

They would violate a proposed code of conduct that South Carolina's utility watchdog agency has suggested Dominion follow.

A proposal by the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff, an advocacy agency for utility customers, would specifically prohibit Dominion from selling customers' information without their consent and would restrict how the utility can market its business partners to its S.C. customers.

"This is customer data," Regulatory Staff Executive Director Nanette Edwards said Thursday. "There should be some protections."

Dominion's attorneys are in the process of fighting that proposed code, writing that the restrictions are unnecessary, burdensome, "disconnected from real-world concerns and without tangible benefits to customers."

The S.C. Public Service Commission, which sets utility rates in the state, eventually will decide whether Dominion must abide by Regulatory Staff's proposed restrictions or a looser set of rules Dominion has proposed for itself.

The deal

Spokespeople from Dominion noted the utility is one of many to partner with HomeServe, a company that has been the subject of nationwide complaints about its marketing practices because its solicitations often resemble a utility's correspondence with customers.

(HomeServe also has entered into marketing agreements with the city of Columbia and the Charleston Water System, according to Charleston City Paper).

Before the Dominion takeover, SCE&G had also turned over customer information for years to a similar company that was owned by Dominion. But SCE&G customers hadn't received a mailed solicitation since 2016, according to Dominion spokesman Ryan Frazier.

"We provide the customers' names and addresses to HomeServe for the purpose of making customers aware of this optional home repair program," Dominion Energy South Carolina spokeswoman Rhonda O'Banion wrote in a statement. "Dominion Energy respects the privacy of our customers and works diligently to protect their personal information."

The new mailers looked like any other correspondence from Dominion, though they were sent by HomeServe. They came under Dominion letterhead and featured Dominion's usual font and format. The letters alerted customers that they had not yet opted into a HomeServe program "to protect against an interior gas line failure that may cost hundreds in out-of-pocket expenses to replace if a breakdown occurs."

It offered to cover Dominion Energy South Carolina customers for $2.95 a month.

Gas line insurance is already covered in most homeowners' insurance policies, according to the Better Business Bureau.

Consumer Reports magazine has advised that it's smarter to put money into a rainy day fund than to pay a third-party company for potential service.

HomeServe has paid settlements -- but denied wrongdoing -- to at least four states that sued it over misleading marketing.

A third-party partner

HomeServe's business partnership with Dominion dates back to 2017, when the company bought the Dominion home repair services spinoff company that previously served SCE&G.

That deal included a long-term agreement that allows HomeServe to provide home repairs to residential customers of Dominion-owned utilities. That meant Dominion would turn over customer data so HomeServe could contact them on Dominion's letterhead and offer them deals.

Dominion was paid up front during the 2017 deal, which was inked before Dominion took over SCE&G. Dominion also gets a cut of the profit for any new customers who sign up for a HomeServe plan, the utility's representatives told The State Thursday.

At the time, HomeServe CEO Tom Rusin said the agreement "gives us the opportunity to add a significant number of customers, policies and new partner relationships that are complementary to our existing business."

About 45,000 Dominion Energy South Carolina customers have a plan with HomeServe, and the company performed 6,000 home repairs in the past year, HomeServe spokesman Myles Meehan told The State. The company has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, a sign the company has been responsive to the 340 complaints lodged against it online.

"There is nothing wrong with this," Meehan said. "It's all legal and legitimate."

Meehan attributed the confusion in Utah to a misunderstanding that has since been resolved.

A Utah official confirmed Thursday HomeServe can resume mailing offers to Dominion's customers there, but only after the companies involved agreed to clear up the confusion.

Future mailers must be more clear about HomeServe's business relationship with Dominion after previous versions were murky and prompted hundreds of complaints from Utah customers.

Dominion also agreed to new rules that protect specific customer information from being shared to third parties, Beck told The State.

South Carolina's utility watchdog agency, Regulatory Staff, has requested similar protections for Dominion's S.C. customers. Those protections are already in place for Dominion's North Carolina customers, the agency says.

They have been negotiating with Dominion attorneys for months over Dominion's proposed code of conduct.

"Dominion does not want to extend those protections," Regulatory Staff spokesman Ron Aiken said.

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