PUCT Staff Propose to Eliminate Rescission Period Except Where Federally Required

PUCT Staff have filed a proposal for publication that, in order to allow same-day switches with advanced meters, would eliminate the rescission period, except where required by federal law (Project 38674).

Staff's proposal, which largely reflects consensus views from the advanced metering implementation team, would revise Subst. R. 25.214, relating to Terms and Conditions of Retail Delivery Service Provided by Investor Owned Transmission and Distribution Utilities (Tariff For Retail Delivery Service), and Subst. R 25.474, relating to Customer Protection Rules for Retail Electric Service.

No consensus was reached on the rescission period issue, however.

Staff's recommendation would remove the requirement for a rescission period for all customers, except those enrolled via door-to-door sales, where a rescission period would remain applicable pursuant to the Federal Trade Concision's Trade Regulation Rule Concerning a Cooling Off Period for Door-to-Door Sales (16 C.F.R. Sec. 429).

The elimination of the rescission period would allow, for customers with provisioned advanced meters with remote disconnect/reconnect ability, a same-day switch from one REP to another.

Staff's proposal would also allow Reconnection for Non-Pay on a 24/7 basis, and same day Move-In and Move-Out, for customers with provisioned smart meters.

Additionally, the proposed amendments would create an AMS Operational Day that will allow many service requests to be carried out on Saturdays, and would require utilities to perform service requests more quickly.

The proposed amendments would also make changes relating to prepaid service including changes that require the REP to disclose to the customer that the customer will not receive a bill, and may request a summary of usage and payment.