New REP Entrants to Sharyland Continues With Nearly Two Dozen Recently Tested Or In Queue

In a final report on the implementation of customer choice, Sharyland Utilities LP reported to the Public Utility Commission of Texas that Sharyland continues to see interest from retail electric providers seeking to be certified to serve customers in the territory, which opened to choice this May.

"In TXSET Flight 0614 which concluded in July, Sharyland successfully tested with eight REP DUNs. Sharyland is testing with 12 additional REP DUNs in Texas SET Flight 1014 which began in October," Sharyland reported.

Thus far, 49 REPs have been certified to do business with Sharyland.

Sharyland Utilities LP reported that during the third quarter (July - September) it processed the following number of transactions:

• Switches - 123

• Move-Ins - 3,311

• Move-Outs -1,351

• Disconnect for Non-Pays - 1,444

• Reconnect Following Disconnect for Non-Pays - 957

• Meter Reads - 158,873

Sharyland also reported that it has experienced an increase in the number of customer complaints, and many of them have involved the classification of accounts for water wells, electric gates or fences, barns, and other structures that were previously served along with residences under Sharyland's General Service rate class with the same associated rate.

"Under Sharyland's current Tariff for Retail Delivery Service (Tariff), which was approved in Docket No. 41474 and applies in the competitive market, service to these types of facilities that are separately metered from a residence may not be served under the Residential Service rate (Tariff Section 6.1.1.1.1).5 Under Sharyland's current Tariff, most of these types of ESI IDs are served under the non-residential 'Secondary Service Less Than or Equal to 10 kW' rate, which is Section 6.1.1.1.2 of the Tariff. Most REPs bill these accounts under a 'Commercial' classification which appears to create customer confusion. Sharyland's focus has been on educating customers on the new account classifications and rate structure," Sharyland said.