Consumers for Paper Options applauds Pennsylvania proposal

Consumers for Paper Options, a coalition of individuals and organizations advocating for access to paper-based services and information, has submitted comments in support of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s proposed rule prohibiting stat e utilities from charging customers for paper billing statements.
“The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is taking an important step to protect the interest of tens of thousands of customers across the state,” said John Runyan, Executive Director of Consumers for Paper Options. Paper-based communications and information are critically important for millions of
Americans.
Not only are 25 percent of citizens without regular Internet access and in need of paper-based statements , but a majority of all Americans believe it is wrong for companies to charge customers to receive information in paper format.
Consumers want, and should have, the option to choose paper-format bills and statements, without being penalized for that choice”
A 2013 survey
commissioned by Consumers for Paper Options found that an overwhelming majority of American adults across all demographic groups believe that consumers should not be forced to receive information in an electronic format.
More than 80 percent of respondents said it is not acceptable for companies that send bills, statements, and informational documents such as proxies or privacy statements to force customers to receive those documents in electronic format only, while 82 percent agree that some peoplesimply do not like computers or are not interested in learning how to use them, and that it would be unfair to force these people to receive bills and statements digitally/electronically.
These same conclusions were also borne out by a study conducted this year by the U.S. Postal Service.
The analysis, which covered three consecutive months of 2014 billing data for a major U.S. utility
company, found that 91 percent of customers chose to receive their statements by mail.