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Texas Retail Provider Seeks Low-Income Customer Sync List From PUC, Agrees To Contribute Funding

July 11, 2017

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Copyright 2010-17 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

TXU Energy has filed a request with the Public Utility Commission of Texas for production and receipt of a list of its low-income electric customers for the state fiscal year beginning on September 1, 2017.

The request is being made pursuant to PURA § 17.007(d)(1) as amended by Senate Bill 1976 in the regular session of the 85th Texas Legislature.

"Consistent with PURA § 17.007(d)(2) and as memorialized in Staff's June 27, 2017 notice, TXU Energy also affirms its agreement to contribute $20,000 toward the reimbursement of the Commission's costs to provide this list in the forthcoming fiscal year," TXU said in its filing

As reported by RetailEnergyX.com, SB 1976 authorized a process for the PUC and Health and Human Services Commission to develop a list of low-income customers to enable REPs to offer customer service, discounts, bill payment assistance, or other methods of assistance

With the elimination of the Lite-Up program, the PUC's authorization to exchange information with the Health and Human Services Commission, which determined Lite-Up eligibility, had previously been clouded

SB 1976 as enrolled provides that:

(a) The Health and Human Services Commission, on request of the commission (PUC), shall assist in developing an automatic process for identifying low-income customers to retail electric providers and certificated telecommunications utilities to enable those providers and utilities to offer customer service, discounts, bill payment assistance, or other methods of assistance

(b) The commission (PUC) and the Health and Human Services Commission shall continue the memorandum of understanding entered into by those agencies in effect on January 1, 2017, that establishes the respective duties of those agencies in relation to the automatic process, and may amend the memorandum of understanding as necessary to achieve the goals of this section.

(c) The commission (PUC) may not require a retail electric provider or a certificated telecommunications utility to offer customer service, discounts, bill payment assistance, targeted bill messaging, or other benefits for which the provider or utility is not reimbursed.

(d) The commission (PUC) may not submit a request to the Health and Human Services Commission to provide for a process to identify low-income electric customers for a fiscal year unless:

    (1) the commission (PUC) receives a request from one or more retail electric providers not later than July 31 of the previous fiscal year for a list of low-income electric customers to be developed; and

    (2) each retail electric provider that submits a request to the commission under Subdivision (1) agrees to reimburse the commission for the cost of development of the list on terms agreed to by the commission and the provider.

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