Texas Staff File Draft Proposal to Allow Customers to Opt-Out of Communicating Advanced Meters

Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas have filed a draft proposal for publication that would allow a customer to select an alternative to a fully functioning advanced meter.

Under Staff's draft, the customer would be required to contact their retail electric provider (REP), acknowledge certain changes in services resulting from this alternative option, and pay both a non-refundable, one-time initial fee and a recurring monthly fee. "The utility would have the discretion to provide either a meter other than a standard advanced meter that has no communication feature or an advanced meter in which the communication feature is disabled, regardless of whether the utility had installed an advanced meter at the customer's premises," Staff said of the draft.

The specific amount of each fee for this alternative option would not be set by the proposed rule. Instead, consistent with the direction Staff received, the rule modifies the retail delivery service tariff so that an initial fee and a monthly fee would be assessed by the TDU for customers who participate in the opt-out program. Following final adoption of the rule, the TDUs would be required to file compliance tariffs to set the specific amount of each fee.

More specifically, language in the draft rule provides:

A customer may request a non-transmitting meter by contacting the customer's retail electric provider (REP).

(1) A REP shall take the following actions if its customer expresses interest in a non-transmitting meter.

(A) The REP shall notify the customer of the following.

(i) The customer will be required to pay the costs associated with the activation of the non-transmitting meter and the ongoing costs associated with the manual reading of the meter, and other fees and costs that may be assessed by the TDU associated with the non-transmitting meter;

(ii) The customer may be required to wait up to 45 days to switch the customer's REP, and may experience longer restoration times in case of a service interruption or outage; and

(iii) If the customer is currently enrolled in a product or service requiring an advanced meter as a condition of enrollment, the REP shall also notify the customer that a different product or service must be chosen prior to installation of the non-transmitting meter.

(B) If the customer chooses the non-transmitting meter, the REP shall obtain written acknowledgement of the conditions listed in subparagraph (A) above. The REP shall notify the TDU of the customer's choice of a non-transmitting meter upon receipt of the written acknowledgement.

The draft provides that costs incurred by a TDU to implement the rule shall be borne only by customers who choose to receive service using non-transmitting meters. Not later than fifteen (15) days after the effective date of the rule, each TDU shall file a compliance tariff to establish a one-time fee for the costs to initiate and ultimately discontinue service using a non-transmitting meter. In addition, the compliance tariff shall include a recurring monthly fee to recover the ongoing costs associated with providing service using a non-transmitting meter, including costs associated with meter reading and billing.

Project 41111