Texas Dismisses Petition for Declaratory Order on Use of CenterPoint Brand by TDU, Broker

The Public Utility Commission of Texas yesterday dismissed a petition from retail electric providers seeking a declaratory ruling regarding the use of the CenterPoint Energy brand by utility CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric and broker CenterPoint Energy Services Inc., particularly with regards to an online retail shopping portal.

As previously reported, several retail electric providers have sought a declaratory order from the PUCT that broker CenterPoint Energy Services (CES), Inc.'s operation of an online shopping portal, MyTrueCost.com, makes it a competitive affiliate of electric utility CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, and thus implicates several PURA and Substantive Rule prohibitions on affiliate conduct.

See prior story for background

PUCT Chairman Donna Nelson said that if the Commission had granted the petition, the Commission would be finding that the use of a common logo by a utility and affiliate would be a per se violation of PURA, and an impressible joint marketing/promotional activity, and she was unprepared to make such precedent-setting decision based on the facts in the instant CenterPoint case.

Nelson also said that there was no evidence in the record that the shared CenterPoint branding causes customer confusion or competitive harm, which was the standard the Commission used in prohibiting a REP affiliate of TDU AEP Texas from using the AEP name.

Commissioner Kenneth Anderson agreed that a ruling in favor of petitioners could not be made based on the facts in the case, noting that, unlike with the AEP case, there was no testimony in the record in the instant case.

Commissioners agreed that a rulemaking should be opened on the extent to which a competitive affiliate's use of a TDU logo and trade dress is permissible under PURA. Anderson encouraged that this rulemaking should take a broad look at not just shared branding, but also code of conduct and related issues.